Couple arrested in Bangkok for selling impure gold amulets

Bangkok police have arrested a couple known as Mae Tuck and Pa Bia, sellers of allegedly impure gold amulets, on suspicion of public fraud, computer crime and false advertising.
Pol Maj Gen Withaya Sriprasertparp, commander of consumer protection police, said the arrest happened at the couple’s House No. 72 on Ram Intra 65 Road in Bang Khen district, Bangkok, on Monday.
The suspects are Kornkanok Suwannabut, 37, aka Mae Tuck and her husband Kanpon Rueang-aram, 35, aka Pa Bia. They were wanted under arrest warrants that the Criminal Court issued on Monday.
According to the commander, the couple were charged with committing public fraud; inputting false information into computer systems that could damage people; advertising with messages that were unfair to consumers; causing misunderstanding about the quantity, quality and other key qualifications of products and services; and using labels that could cause misunderstanding.
Police brought the couple to the Crime Supression Division for interrogation.
Apart from the arrest of the couple, another contingent of consumer protection police searched their K2N gold shop on Hathairat Road in Khlong Sam Wa district, Bangkok.
Ms Kornkanok and her husband were accused of selling jewellery with less gold content than advertised during livestreaming sessions on social media.
Their business made headlines as many buyers said they could not sell the products at other gold shops because other gold traders doubted the real gold content in the products.
Recently the Anti-Money Laundering Office said it would investigate whether the couple were unusually rich.
Pol Maj Gen Withaya, the consumer protection commander, later said that the couple denied all charges and refused to answer police interrogators’ questions. Police rejected their bail request and would seek a court order to extend their detention on Tuesday. The commander said many people had suffered damages in the case and two of them had filed complaints with police. According to Pol Maj Gen Withaya, police also seized gold, safes and four registered guns from the couple’s house for further examination.
Officers were aware that the couple owned luxury cars, he said, and investigators were following the trails of the cars, other assets and cash belonging to the couple because the case concerns public fraud. Their luxury cars remain in the country. Police would also call the people who helped promote the couple’s products for questioning, he said.