Motorcycle taxi driver led an extravagant lifestyle funded by blackmailing women he friended online using a fake photo and profile. He not only conned his victims once but came back with a new profile a second time, inflicting even greater, unimaginable damage and pain on his victims.
Police arrested a 22-year-old Thai man in the Pakkred area of Nonthaburi province on Friday on a court warrant relating to a catalogue of disturbing and monstrous crimes committed against at least 20 Thai women involving rape, blackmail and extortion. The case highlights a pattern of criminal behaviour linked with the internet and social media where women and children are more likely to be the victims of lust, greed and even revenge.
On Friday, the Commander of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division of the Royal Thai Police led a team that arrested a 22-year-old motorcycle taxi driver who engineered a reign of terror over at least 20 Thai women involving blackmail and rape after gaining their trust online.
Mr Mongkhol Sribuathep was taken into custody by police at the Nonthaburi Land Office in the Pakkred area of the province on foot of an arrest warrant issued by the Criminal Court on February 25th following a police investigation into the man’s depraved activities.
Top police officer gives a briefing on 22 year old’s litany of horrific crimes perpetrated on women
A briefing on the case was given by the commander, Police Major General Siam Boonsom to the media over the weekend.
He revealed the man, a motorcycle taxi driver by profession, would use fake online photos to create social networking accounts including one on a popular dating app called OMI and on the LINE chat application.
Police said the man would target young women between 18 and 25 years of age and in particular, university students or office workers.
Lives in the Muang Thong Thani area of Nonthaburi
Somehow, the 22-year-old, who reportedly lives in the Muang Thong Thani area of Nonthaburi, would coax and convince women to pose naked for him online.
This was the start of a spiral that led the unsuspecting victims into a nightmare as the man secretly recorded these sessions which he used afterwards as leverage against them.
Borrowed money from women and refused to pay
He then continued to build up a relationship of trust which led him to borrow money from the women.
Mr Mongkhol would not repay the loans and when pressed, would threaten to release the video clips online to humiliate and disgrace them.
Second time around, the nightmare was even worse as Mr Mongkhol lured his victims again
More shockingly, the manipulative man came back for a second bite of the cherry but this time, his designs were even more horrendous.
Using further fake profiles, he would make contact with all his victims posing as a white knight who was aware of the unpaid debts and how the women had been duped by his former alter ego.
In this role, he offered to get the money back for the women which would require a rendezvous with them face to face.
Police disclosed that at these meetings, he would forcefully rape the women and record the rapes on a video device.
Coercive and torturous relationship descended on women extorted and repeatedly raped
There then followed a coercive and torturous relationship with the man who extorted money from his victims and sexual favours.
Police Major General Siam gave a harrowing account of one woman who was repeatedly raped for a week.
At least one woman contemplated suicide
The senior police officer said that at least one woman had attempted to commit suicide following her ordeal.
All had suffered trauma and acute damage to their mental health due to the man’s actions. It is understood he undertook his activities to fund an extravagant lifestyle.
After he was arrested on Friday, police immediately tested Mr Mongkhol for narcotics but the results came back negative.
They are reaching out to locate and find other women who may have been victims of the man in addition to those that have come forward. Officers are confident there are more.
Disturbing trend and pattern of criminality linked to porn use and the internet in Thailand
The use of the internet to blackmail young and attractive Thai women in this fashion is nothing new and has become a significant crime pattern in the kingdom in recent years.
The whole area of pornographic images and content including child porn has increasingly attracted criminal minds and even, on occasion, from businessmen because of the edge it provides in generating income.
Chiang Mai arrest led police to be told that business syndicate owned Thai child porn network on Russian social media by the site administrator
In November 2019, police in Chiang Mai arrested Korakot Chulthong, the 24-year-old administrator of a child porn website run through the popular Russian social network VK based in St Petersburg.
Online child abuse exploited as a business opportunity by porn barons
Police were shocked to hear the man give testimony that he was operating the child porn network which was generating lucrative premium fees, for a syndicate of business owners.
Pathum Thani porn network of women’s toilets
Such cases have been joined by others such as that of IT worker, Nitiwat Muikaeo, who placed cameras in women’s toilets and was arrested in Pathum Thani province in February last year by the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) but not before he had also set up a lucrative income stream also on the Russian social network website, VK.
Mr Nitiwait had already uploaded no less than 1,770 clips of young women including university and school students, making use of the toilets he had wired for video and sound.
TV producer arrested for uploading clips of naked Thai women posing for modelling work to the darknet
In June 2019, Thai police tracked down Kamonsak Chanthasing at his apartment in the Thonburi area of Bangkok. He was a TV producer with a well-known national broadcaster in the city who had set up a sideline as a modelling agent with a Facebook page as a front.
Mr Kamonsak had obtained nude clips from up to 200 Thai women which he had uploaded to porn sites for free income and also on the dark internet.
He then turned to the use of blackmail against the women to earn hard cash.
Ex arrested in Facebook revenge porn incident
Then, there is the worldwide phenomenon of revenge porn, prevalent also in Thailand.
This saw a jealous ex-partner in Chumphon province arrested in May last year after a 25-year-old woman filed a police complaint giving evidence that provocative and compromising images of her had been placed on a fake Facebook page advertising her services as a prostitute.
26-year-old partner advertised his ex-wife by her real name as a prostitute
Police later arrested and charged 26-year-old Mr Niwat Phumnuchat from the Tha Sae district of the province in relation to his activities.
He was also charged with narcotics offences after raiding police found illegal substances at his home.
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Thai man arrested for blackmail scheme targeting Thai women whom he paid to send him sex clips
