From potty-mouth to net idol
A scheming auntie nabbed by the law after slandering a woman she approached for money has escaped jail time following her conviction after a police station head came to her aid.
 |
| Yupaporn |
Netizens helped the law catch Yupaporn Phanthang, dubbed “Dangerous Aunty” and “Autocratic Aunty” in the media, after she duped sympathetic Thais out of their hard-earned money by spinning a sob story about how a thief had made off with her belongings.
A court sentenced her to six days in jail for slandering a victim who dared to call out her trickery, one of many victims she has duped over a career of deception going back at least five years.
However, a city police station head has quietly paid her fine, sparing the woman jail time. Ms Yupaporn, while agreeing to stop deceiving people, insists she did not do anything wrong as her victims happily parted with their money.
The saga of conniving Ms Yupaporn entered a new phase last week with news that police had spared her jail time, her elevation to self-proclaimed “net idol” on social media, and her own insistence, as she fronted for her first TV interview, that she was really an innocent victim, having been robbed by a bag thief herself many years before.
Huay Kwang police on Oct 18 nabbed Mrs Yupaporn, 53, who admitted running a petty fraud racket in which she claims to have fallen victim to thieves while out shopping and asks for money to get home. She plays to the Thai tendency to feel sorry for people in need.
In the end, Ms Yupaporn fell victim to her foul mouth rather than her duplicitous ways after police charged her with slander after a victim complained Ms Yupaporn abused her when she refused to part with money.
Ms Yupaporn, who has told police said she snagged three to five victims a day as she peddled her scam before unsuspecting commuters at city subway and skytrain stations, admitted last week she had been duping people for about five years.
Netizens, who started reporting sightings on social media of Ms Yupaporn roaming the city before police finally caught up with her, noted she wears black every day, and routinely clutches shopping bags and an umbrella as she approaches commuters.
In her TV interview, Ms Yupaporn said these were her “personal logos”, and she does not so much ask commuters for money as spin them a convincing story, with the result they happily part with money.
“I can’t go asking folks for their money...how ugly is that? You have to have a story, not lies...It has to be the truth, even more remarkable than the truth...there are many techniques,” she said, admitting she draws on her experience as a former insurance broker to help get her way.
“I don’t ask them for money or threaten people...we just strike up a conversation and find we get along. We talk together naturally. It’s like I meet a customer and apply my wiles. I can sell anything I want, and I don’t need any tools with which to do it.”
The commuters who fall for her story and part with money are not victims, she insists, but “benefactors”, or “customers”.
As part of her routine, she tells commuters she has lost her phone, asks if they can call a number for her, before finally lifting one of the bags to reveal it has been slashed.
The Phra Nakhon Nua district court on Oct 19 ordered her to pay a 6,000 baht fine, halved after she confessed. She claimed to have no money so was jailed for six days instead.
However, in a little-noticed move the commander of Huay Kwang station, Pol Col Phuris Jintharanan, paid most of that (it is unclear who paid the rest), allowing Ms Yupaporn to escape jail time.
In return, he said, Ms Yupaporn had agreed to abandon her scam. He said he might have to get staff from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security to examine her mental health, an option Ms Yupaporn said she was considering herself.
The Ubon Ratchathani native said she was grieving the loss of her mother a few years ago, and after psychiatric advice might one day feel good enough to wearing colours again. In a rare moment of self-awareness, she said: “Some days I can make 3,000 baht, but I should add it’s not right...making a living on the basis of someone’s belief where things I say, they think are true. Some of it’s not true, just a tiny percentage.”
Ms Yupaporn said she once fell victim to a bag thief on a city bus, and took up the ruse to teach society a lesson. “I am sure the number of bag slashers has fallen off since I started, as they are now under scrutiny,” she said.
Celebrity lawyer Decha Kittiwithiyanan, who also took part in the interview, clarified the law for her sake, saying someone who dupes people into parting with money is guilty of swindling, which can carry a jail term of three years.
Ms Yupaporn, who is single, has no children, and rarely contacts relatives, said she was asking society for a chance. She would probably turn to sales, but did not want to work as an employee.
Just a little salted away
The mother of the self-professed billionaire serving six months in jail on a fraudulent cheque conviction says she has a sum tucked away for him when he gets out so he can start “investing” again.
 |
| Top |
Yannee “Oiy” Raktiprakorn, from Saraburi, opened up last week about the high-profile case involving her son, Thananat “Top” Siripiyaporn, 49, who is best known for leaving his former Buri Ram bride with a huge wedding debt but is now serving six months for fraud. Sia Top, as he is also known, was arrested at Don Mueang airport upon his return from Hong Kong on Oct 17.
Sia Top was wanted under a warrant approved by the Bangkok North Municipal Court in a fraudulent cheque case going back to 2015. He left for Hong Kong on Oct 6, shortly after his marriage to a 30-year-old product presenter and lavish wedding party in Buri Ram hit the news.
Her complaint that he left her with a 3.2 million baht wedding bill prompted a huge cast of alleged victims of his shady practices to come forward, with Sia Top valiantly fending off the claims in the media via Facebook live before his eventual return.
He said he came back intending to sue his former wife “Da” for defamation. “I insist I was not in debt to anyone as I had written a note saying I would clear everyone’s debts. There was no need for her to make any demands, so her behaviour looks extortionary,” he claimed, adding it was Da who tricked him into marriage, not the other way around.
The fraudulent cheque case, however, concerns his offer to buy the Isis beauty clinic in Sathon three years ago. He and owner Supaporn Ampapankit had initially agreed on a price of 8 million baht, later negotiated down to 4.5 million baht, before finally settling on 1 million baht.
Ms Supaporn said Sia Top wrote a cheque, which the bank refused to honour, but in the meantime falsely cited the deal to others, resulting in damages.
Sia Top’s mother brought a title deed for land in Lam Luk Ka as surety that they would pay the damages at a later date. However, the damages payment did not go ahead, as Ms Supaporn went to court.
The court sentenced him to a year, halved when he confessed. However, Sia Top did not turn up for the ruling in November that year, claiming he was overseas on business.
The court issued a warrant for his arrest, and after he failed to appeal the verdict was jailed upon his return to Bangkok.
Sia Top’s lawyer Suraphol Sintunawa said his client had intended paying damages to Ms Supaporn in exchange for the title deed, but in the event Sia Top was arrested first.
Sia Top’s mother welcomed news her son would serve jail time, as that meant he would not have to pay Ms Supaporn damages. She would keep the 1 million baht or so which she had intended to hand over to Ms Supaporn for her son instead, to invest when he gets out of jail.
“I am pleased we won’t have to pay, as she had no reason to go ahead with court action. Her behaviour looks extortionary,” she said, sounding remarkably like her son.
Not that old sex app trick
 |
| Fai |
Former Miss Universe Thailand Weluree “Fai” Ditsayabut has gone to police after a netizen posted her photograph to a dating site which claims she is available for sex.
Fai, now an actress and presenter, complained to Thong Lor police after a member of her fanclub contacted her to say he’d seen her picture at Tinder, a dating site, and on social media, advertising her services.
When her fan made contact with the people behind the ad, he was given an address in Ramkhamhaeng and a price of 2,500 baht an hour, plus hotel room charge of 350 baht.
Later, he chatted on Line to the woman he was to meet, and glimpsed her on Facetime. Fai, who saw a screenshot, said the woman bore a similar likeness to her.
Fai said she was lucky her fan saw the ad in time, or someone might have fallen victim to the scam.
“Many of my friends have fallen prey to similar trick and I would like my case to serve as an example,” she said. Police are investigating.
No comments:
Post a Comment