PUBLISHED : 30 Jul 2023 at 04:00
Police have arrested a Vietnamese national in Bangkok suspected of illegally collecting hundreds of thousands of baht per month from swindled customers.
Pol Maj Gen Theeradej Thamsuthee, commander of the Metropolitan Police Bureau’s investigation division, said Nguyen Van Viet, 40, was arrested on Friday at his warehouse in Lat Krabang district over alleged public fraud and inputting false information into a computer system.
He was arrested after the Criminal Court issued a warrant on July 14, Pol Maj Gen Theeradej said.
Police seized 468 returned parcels and about 5,000 products, including appliances and knives, from the suspect’s warehouse, he added.
Mr Nguyen was arrested because he was the owner of a storage warehouse for a “random parcel sending” fraud, earning hundreds of thousands of baht a month, Pol Maj Gen Theeradej said.
He said the fraud was linked to the suspect’s online Facebook shops, which sold substandard products that were not approved by local authorities, and counterfeit goods.
According to police, victims would order products from the suspect and later found the goods sent did not match those advertised online, resulting in the products being returned.
The suspect would then send the same products in parcels to people who unknowingly accepted and paid for them using the cash on delivery method, police said.
Mr Nguyen denied the allegations. He said he started using the warehouse last year using funds from a Vietnamese businessman.