Nonthaburi Millionaire Reports 107 Million Baht Missing From Her Bank Account

July 7, 2012

A representative of SCB bank went to see the police Crime Suppression Division to report that a Nonthaburi woman millionaire apparently lost 102 million THB in her bank account. The bank revealed that they have stopped the responsible manager from working. The bank also formed a committee to investigate the manager, but could not contact him.

BANGKOK- July 5, 2012 [PDN]; At 3 p.m. the Crime Suppression Division, Mr. Phongsit Chaichatpornsuk, assistant manager of SCB bank, went to see Pol. Col. Prasopchok Prommul, Deputy Commissioner, to give information to the investigating officer.

The case involved a Ms. Uermboon Jansama, age 60, who notified the police to assist in investigating the fact that her deposited money in a SCB bank account, Praram 4 branch, had apparently lost more than 107 million THB in the last several years.

She let the manager of this bank deposit money for her and had believed he took reliable care of her account. Mr. Phongsit said that after the incident occurred, the bank also worried about this matter and set up the committee to investigate and also ordered the manager to stop working.

After inspecting the manager’s account, it was discovered that this manager had more liabilities than assets from doing business. However, for the amount of lost money that the victim first claimed for 150 million THB, he confirmed that the victim informed the bank that she lost only 107 million THB. But bank inspectors found that she was also cheated for 1 million THB, which the bank had already notified to police at the Klongtan police station.

Mr. Phongsit said that Ms. Uermboon has done business transactions with the bank for the last 5 years. This has resulted in so many documents that the bank needs more time to gather all evidence. In initial questioning, the victim could not remember all the business transactions she had done with the bank. Also, previous bank inspections didn’t find any wrongdoing in this manager’s working method, because if the customer didn’t sign her signature for a business transaction, the manager was not authorized to do the transaction.

Bank officials said this manager has been an honest employee for 28 years at the bank, and many customers have praised him. But after the incident with Ms. Uermboon, the bank could not contact this manager, who has apparently turned off his mobile phone.

However, the bank would like to reassure customers that it has operated for more than 100 years, and customers should understand that this case involves only one staff member. The bank itself has not been found to be at fault for any wrongdoing related to this matter, and is fully cooperating with the police to clear the injustice in this case.

Pol. Col. Prasopchok said he would like to warn people to keep track of the money in their bank books and should not rely on any one person at the bank, including a manager of the bank, to oversee their accounts. Because when the problem occurred and the manager could not be contacted, the bank could not quickly inspect how much money was in account and what business transactions had been done.

Now, the police are gathering evidence and will work with the Klongtan police station. It will be considered a case of stealing money and counterfeiting other people’s documents.