Online Crook Steals Pattaya Womanâ€™s Car

July 11, 2012

An Pattaya engineer who deceived and stole from women he met with online chats was arrested after stealing a woman’s car and her purse at the Central Festival center on Pattaya Beach. Many women have told police of also being victims of the online con artist.

PATTAYA – July 10, 2012 [PDN]; At 1 p.m., the arrest was reported by Pol. Lt. Gen. Panya Mamen, Commissioner section 2; Pol. Maj. Gen. Jamnong Rattanakul; Pol. Col. PisitProyroongroj, Deputy Commissioner; Pol. Col. Panthana Noochanart; Pol. Lt. Col.Kierttisak Sathongoy, Deputy Superintendent; Pol. Lt. Col. Chitdecha Songhong,Inspector; and the police team.

The suspected thief is Mr. Pongsakornor Peak Jitjamras,30, address 1/1 Moo 1 Tambon Klongsee, Amphur Klong Luang,Pathumthani province. According to the arrest warrant of Pattaya provincial court at J.439/2555, dated June 26, 2012, the defendant is accused of stealing property, and was arrested with the evidence: a white Honda Jazz automobile, license number YOR HOR-7066 Bangkok, and an iPhone belonging to the victim, Ms. Varaporn Boontan, 29, an employee of Tata Steel Co., Ltd. The victim pointed out the suspect to police to confirm to arrest.

Pol. Lt. Gen. Panya Mamen revealed that in the past month, Mr. Pongsakornor, an engineer at a factory in Pathumthani province, had used a mobile phone to chat with Ms. Varaporn by using the LINE software program, until the victim came to trust him.

Mr. Pongsakornor claimed to be an engineer who designed building interiors and had a stable occupation. On June 15, 2012 Mr. Pongsakornor met with Ms. Varaporn to buy a fruit basket at Central Festival department store at Pattaya Beach.

Mr.Pongsakorn offered to carry Ms. Varaporn’s handbag while she chose the fruit for the basket. Then Mr. Pongsakorn told her that he would walk to another shop to buy goods. He then stole Ms. Varaporn’s handbag with her mobile phone and cash inside, and drove Ms. Varaporn’s car to escape.

Later, people notified the Pattaya police station that they had found Ms.Varaporn’s car in the parking lot of Klong Thom market, on the side of Sukhumvit road, Moo 6 Tambon Na Kleu, Amphur Banglamung.

The police team went to the scene and staked out the car. They saw Mr. Pongsakorn walking to the car and arrested him. They searched him and found the mobile phone of the victim. During questioning, Mr. Pongsakorn confessed that he committed the crime because he had been arrested in a similar case before, and he had used all his money in the legal proceedings for the past case.

Pol. Lt. Gen. Panya said that a background check of Mr. Pongsakorn revealed a history of criminal behavior involving online chats with women, in area of AmphurKlong Luang and Amphur Thanyaburi, Pathumthani province.

On July 2009, Mr. Pongsakorn had chatted online with a first-year university student, and later stole her notebook computer and escaped. But he was arrested by Thanyaburi police. After his arrest, many victims also notified the police that they had been victimized by him in that area of Pattaya. The police also recently learned that another woman had also chatted with Mr.Pongsakorn and she may also have been deceived by him.

The police would like to warn teenagers and other adults who use online social media to chat with each other, to beware of predatory strangers on the internet. If anyone else has been victimized by this engineer, they can come to the Pattaya police station to point out and confirm the suspect to police.