Hi-so marriage swindle unravels, runaway bride returns

Hi-so conman from the slum

Neung

Four women who banded together to accuse a former lover of duping them into marriage and making off with their assets are breathing a sigh of relief after police arrested him at his city condo.

The women, who laid a joint complaint with Crime Suppression Division police last week, say they met Phakkawat “Neung” Watthananon, 36, originally from Samut Prakan, via a Facebook dating app.

He would ask to start seeing them romantically while making extravagant claims about his background. He was variously an events organiser, an amulets trader, rare dogs breeder, and freelance photographer, well educated, and from a hi-so background.

He claimed his mother was from royalty and grew up in a palace. One victim said his mother was present when he made the claims and raised no objection, suggesting his family was aware of his deception.

Eventually he would get his mother to approach the women on his behalf asking for their hand in marriage. He claimed he had the marriage dowry prepared, but failed to transfer it. He asked his victims to pay for their wedding and promised to repay them but never did. In the meantime, they say, he devised various schemes to defraud them.

The woman whom he fleeced most impressively is perhaps Victim A, 29, who says she suffered total losses at his hands of 2.7 million baht. She said they talked for just a few days before he asked if they could go steady, and took her to meet his family. After three months, he invited her to co-invest in his dog breeding venture, into which she put 150,000 baht. He never returned the money, and nor did she make a profit.

Later he suggested they buy a Toyota Fortuner so she would have her own vehicle to run around in. He asked her to buy it in her name, but on the day they went to pick it up claimed he was short of cash as a payment for his photographs had yet to arrive. She had to pay the down payment herself, and later also forked out for a big bike he wanted, once again in her name.

They planned to wed in April last year, but when the day arrived Neung failed to come up with the dowry leaving her to pay the 300,000 baht bill for the wedding herself.

“After we married he would take the Fortuner out every day, but no income ever came into the household, and I had to shoulder all the expenses myself, including the vehicles,” she said.

“He also borrowed money constantly, claiming his mother was ill or he wanted to repair his camera. Finally I told him I could not shoulder the burden alone any longer and on Aug 16 he left home and didn’t come back, also cutting off all means of contact,” she said.

Victim B, 39, from Min Buri, said Neung asked to borrow a gold ring after they had been chatting one week. He said Victim A had “tricked” him into marriage as she was quietly seeing someone on the side. He had to clear up various financial problems related to his failed marriage after which he hoped to make a new start. However, he took the ring and never returned.

Victim C, 40, a businesswoman, said Neung claimed he was a major shareholder in a family-owned events organising firm and freelance photographer for Honda, which paid him 10 million baht a year. 

“I took him to see a jeweller friend and he ordered a ring but when it was ready had me pay for it instead, claiming he was waiting for his mother to sign a company cheque. “My friend told me later he had quietly ordered another 1 million baht ring, supposedly for my hand in marriage, but I cancelled it as I feared being left with the bill,” she said.

He claimed he was an expert in amulets known as “Mohk Muang Samut”, and took family amulets to get framed in gold. He claimed he would sell them on their behalf for a profit but never did. She suffered losses of 600,000 baht before he finally disappeared on Nov 16.

Victim D, 42, said Neung claimed he was the owner of a big business with many homes and cars, and graduated in psychology in Australia. “He claimed his mother was in a car accident, borrowed 75,000 baht, told me later his mother had died, and disappeared,” she said.

Victim A was the first to take action, laying a complaint with Pak Kret police who on Nov 25 obtained a warrant from the Nonthaburi court. However, his four victims ultimately found each other, and after digging around discovered that Neung has a history of such capers. 

CSD police arrested him five years ago on fraud charges after he claimed falsely he was a doctor from Siriraj Hospital and tricked a woman in Chiang Mai out of a car.

Victim C said when they were together he would wear a suit and tie, and take pictures of himself often with her Mercedez Benz. “If I took him to see my business friends he would take pictures of their homes, no doubt planning to create a profile for himself to trick future victims,” she said with hindsight.

Amarin TV last week visited his family home in Phra Padaeng, Samut Prakan, which far from being a palatial mansion, befitting of the man of means he claimed to be, in fact lies in a slum. A family member, who said women come to see him at the house often, warned the public not to believe Neung’s stories.

Though the family claimed to have no knowledge of him ripping people off, Neung’s relative said each time he comes back, he picks up his mother to take her to a wedding. His mother, they added, was not royalty but a local trader.

On the same day as they laid their CSD complaint, Metropolitian Division police arrested Neung at his condo in the Rat Burana area. Neung denied the charges, though admitted knowing the women. He claimed he had returned some of the assets they claim to have lost to his deception. The case continues.

Soothsayers soothe family

Muay

Somboon 

A bride’s family in Buri Ram is vowing to proceed with her wedding after she disappeared from home on the big day with the groom’s 30,000 baht dowry but later made contact from Bangkok.

Jindarat “Muay” Chinram, 23, planned to marry her childhood sweetheart Somboon at a function at her father’s home in Muang Kae, Satuek district on Dec 31. She told her father that morning she would go into town to withdraw the dowry but failed to return. The nearest bank is 13km away.

Her father Udom, 53, said the wedding was ready to go ahead, with relatives present and the food prepared, but Muay failed to show. Concerned about her safety, he contacted Chum Saeng police and reached out on social media after the family tried to contact his daughter without success.

“I slaughtered two pigs ahead of the wedding, but had to alert police when she failed to show for the lucky start time of 9am,” he said. Muay’s distraught family and relatives, left high and dry at the function, consulted 10 local soothsayers, who assured them she had not gone far and would return of her own accord. Her father also visited local hospitals and Muay’s friends, including her ex-husband.

The groom, Somboon Homchan, who also hails from the district, said they had been seeing each other about a year after she split up with her first husband, with whom she has two young children. “I would urge her to come back and talk. Whether she still wants to marry or not, we can talk about it. If she has run out of money, I can send more. Just come back,” he said plaintively.

Her mother Soi, 53, said the children were missing their mum and couldn’t sleep. Muay had called earlier saying she had obtained a propitious date for the wedding, so she invited relatives to a traditional ceremony the day before in which the couple tie strings around their wrists. The wedding was to be held the next day.

She spent about 10,000 on the food alone, including a pig and vegetables. Relatives had helped her clean house and they had risen on the day of the wedding at 2am to prepare everything.

The groom’s mother, who like almost everyone else had been to see a local fortune teller to ask about Muay’s fate, said the couple met at secondary school and got along well. However, they split up when Muay went to Bangkok in search of work. Muay returned to Somboon again after her marriage failed. “He loves her very much, and they want to have a child together,” she said.

By Monday, father Udom had good news for media covering the event. Muay had been in touch to ask after them and tell them not to worry. “Sumbai dee,” she said in local parlance (“I am fine”). While not wanting to say too much out of deference to his daughter, he said she was in Bangkok with friends. 

“We will go ahead with the wedding, though I might settle with just the string-tying ceremony,” he said. Asked why Muay fled, he said he suspected she may have spent the dowry in advance of the wedding and fled in embarrassment. A local earlier saw Muay sitting by a marsh early on Dec 31, talking earnestly on the phone, her motorcycle parked opposite. When he returned a few hours later she had gone.

Mr Udom visited police to say he had found his daughter, and later took goods he had earlier pledged to the spirits in the event of her safe return, including two head of pork, two head of chicken, and drinks, and laid them at a shrine for ancestors in the village to redeem the pledge and thank them for the happy ending.