PHITSANULOK: A woman has been arrested for allegedly transferring a total of 15.7 million baht from a man's bank account to her own account with a mobile phone she had stolen from him, police said at a press conference on Sunday.
Pol Lt Gen Akradej Pimolsri, the Provincial Police Region 6 commissioner, identified the woman as Satang Thongramphan, 46, from Phitsanulok province. The man was not identified.
Ms Satang's arrest followed a complaint filed with police by Patiwat Thaisom, 31. He accused Ms Satang of stealing a mobile phone belonging to his father, a 56-year-old former bank employee who died on Aug 9. With access to information in the mobile phone, she transferred a total of 15.7 million from his father's bank account to her own account, using his password on the bank application.
The police managed to obtain a court warrant for the arrest of Ms Satang and another warrant for the search of house No 100/89 at Moo 6 village in tambon Wat Chan in Muang district, Phitsanulok, where the woman lived.
Ms Satang was arrested on Sept 1.
In a search of the house, police found 2,329,000 baht in cash, a 10-baht weight of gold bullion worth about 299,500 baht, a Chevrolet Optra which belonged to the man who had died, six mobile phones, six bank account deposit books and some documents.
The following day, Sept 2, police seized 12 million baht in cash hidden in the rear of a Mitsubishi car parked at house No 80/154 on Pracha Uthit road in Muang district, Phitsanulok.
Ms Satang denied she had stolen the man's money, saying she had only followed his instructions.
Police said that during questioning, Ms Satang said she knew the man and had taken care of him while he underwent treatment for stomach cancer at a care centre in tambon Plai Chumpol in Muang district, Phitsanulok, until he died on Aug 9.
With his mobile phone and his password on a Krungthai Bank app, she transferred money from his Krungthai Bank account to her own TMB Thanachart Bank account 17 times between Aug 9-16, totalling 15,790,000 baht.
She withdrew 3 million baht from her bank account on Aug 21 and another 12,732,654 baht on Aug 24 - 15,732,654 baht in total.
She used some of the money to buy the gold bullion and hid the rest of the money in the rear of a car, police said. The money had been seized by officers after the search.
Ms Satang said she kept 1 million baht to hire a lawyer in case she had a legal problem.
She was initially charged with stealing under the Criminal Code and violating the Computer Crime Act.
