Beware of bogus car rental companies
Beware of bogus car rental companies
Watch for car rental companies being run by police or even those run by people who have friends in the police, apparently they are pretending the car has been stolen and the policeman is helping to store the car and extort the money from the customer. Very worrying, most people will pay up the moment the police turn up, not wanting trouble in a foreign country.
Re: Beware of bogus car rental companies
Stef wrote:Watch for car rental companies being run by police or even those run by people who have friends in the police, apparently they are pretending the car has been stolen and the policeman is helping to store the car and extort the money from the customer. Very worrying, most people will pay up the moment the police turn up, not wanting trouble in a foreign country.
first time i have heard THAT ONE,WHERE DID YOU GET THIS INFO FROM-
Philrjones
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There's been a car hire scam in the news lately. Until just recently it didn't involve cops. Now they discovered one cop running a a car hire on the side. Could be that OP was referring to this:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/16Feb2008_news09.phpCRIME / POLICE CORRUPTION
DSI urged to take on car scam investigation
Justice Ministry permanent secretary Jarun Pukditanakul yesterday suggested the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) take over the investigation into an alleged swindling ring related to a car-hire scam involving a number of policemen. If the DSI handles the case, they can ensure transparency and prevent any collusion between police investigators and some suspects, who are policemen at the Special Branch Police and at Min Buri police station, said Mr Jarun.
He pointed out that in cases when charges have been filed against DSI officials or staff members, the investigations should be carried out by police.
Not a single victim in either the car-hire swindling scam or in the recent case of alleged forced confessions and extortion by a group of Border Patrol Police (BPP) officers has sought any intervention into the police investigation, said Mr Jarun.
Pol Lt-Col Chot Suwanjunee, deputy investigation superintendent of Min Buri police station which is investigating the car-hire scam, said 200 people have already lodged complaints at his station accusing Thanchanok Deesantia, the owner of Paradise Palace, and Natnarin Moohammad, the owner of Yufuku Decorate, of swindling them by acting as their car rental agents but failing to pay them rent and refusing to return their vehicles.
Police have discovered that some of the vehicles have been sold and exported to Laos.
In the latest development, one of the victims found his missing sedan parked in Min Buri police station after another car owner earlier discovered his missing 11-seater van at the headquarters of the Royal Thai Police, triggering the assumption that a number of policemen have been involved in the scam.
Pol Lt-Col Chot yesterday said his team had found two cars thought to belong to victims of the scam in Soi Hathairat.
Pol Maj-Gen Jutti Thammathowanich, the deputy metropolitan police commissioner who is heading the investigation team, said he has instructed his team to look for victims' vehicles at used car dealer centres in Bangkok and nearby provinces.
Pol Maj-Gen Jutti said his team believed Pol Capt Karin Thongmanokoon of Special Branch Division 3, who claimed to have rented out a van belonging to a scam victim when the owner of the vehicle found it parked in the Special Branch Police's parking lot, was part of the car-hire ring.
Once investigators obtain solid evidence, they will summon Pol Capt Karin to acknowledge the charge of accepting stolen objects, which would make him liable to a five-year jail term and disciplinary action, said Pol Maj-Gen Jutti.
Here's another related news item from yesterday:
BKK post archives...Accused of lying and falsifying evidence
Three police officers will face a disciplinary inquiry after lying to their supervisors and attempting to falsify evidence over a scam involving hire-car firms, police spokesman Pongsapat Pongcharoen said yesterday. Pol Sgt Montri Thewarat, Pol Cpl Chaiwat Prachachai and Pol Capt Karin Thongmanokoon were found to have falsified records related to the entry into a police compound of a stolen minibus and also to have tampered with video files of the police office's security cameras, according to the spokesman.
Pol Lt-Gen Pongsapat said the three officers had tried to delete video footage featuring their pictures from the office's database, but computer technicians managed to retrieve the deleted files.
Police chief Pol Gen Sereepisut Taemeeyaves has ordered a panel to be set up to conduct a disciplinary investigation of the three officers, said Pol Lt-Gen Pongsapat.
The officers' involvement with the missing van came to light on Tuesday when one of about 50 victims of an alleged swindle related to a vehicle-hire scheme found his missing van parked at police headquarters and saw Pol Sgt Montri opening his van.
Pol Sgt Montri then told the van owner, Kasem Sasakul, that a man called Somchai had left the van with him on Monday evening, adding that Mr Somchai had rented the van but suspected it was a stolen vehicle.
On Tuesday Pol Sgt Montri said Mr Somchai asked police to search for the van's real owner. However, Pol Sgt Montri later admitted he drove the van into police headquarters himself.
He said he had rented the van from Pol Capt Karin for 1,000 baht a day and used it as a hire vehicle serving tourists at various hotels.
He apologised to the media and claimed he lied out of fear that he could be linked to a crime racket when Mr Kasem approached him.
According to Pol Sgt Montri, Pol Capt Karin also earned extra income selling cars and lending money via car mortgage schemes.
Pol Lt-Gen Pongsapat said that as well as facing the disciplinary inquiry, Min Buri police investigating the swindling gang would be asked to prove if the three officers were part of that gang.
Metropolitan police chief Aswin Kwanmuang said the police team tasked with searching for the missing vehicles, led by Pol Col Preecha Thimamontri, found some of the victims' vehicles had already been exported to Laos, and the law in Laos made it impossible for police to get those vehicles back.
In Bangkok, Metropolitan police from all units are scanning parking lots, including those at private apartments, condominiums and warehouses, in a bid to locate some of the vehicles belonging to victims of the car-hire scam.
In Nakhon Ratchasima where police seized 12 vehicles and a pistol stored in a warehouse in Thepthani housing estate in Muang district last week, the warehouse owner, Choochart Choedpetcharat, yesterday turned up to tell local police he owned the pistol and managed the warehouse.
Lt Choochart insisted all 12 vehicles belonged to his friends and clients, and said none were related to any car theft gang.