Lee Tours in 3 Million Baht Scam Investigation

Mr. Mongkul Thummakittikul, Banglamung District Chief along with Pattaya Mayor Itthiphol Kunplome and Police Major Arun Promphan, Pattaya Immigration Police Officer decided to grant 2,000 baht compensation money to 10 Lee Tours victims who purchased tickets valued at 275,100 baht.

Mr. Mongkul said, "The money we granted is not much but it will help the victims before they receive their full refund. The money was taken from the ‘Assist the Tourists’ fund."

Police Major Arun has been investigating the scam and has found that the manager of Lee Tours is Ms. Suteera Yaempeng. Lee Tours has been operating for over 15 years and some of the victims were regular customers. It was revealed that Lee Tours had scammed over 54 customers in the past. The police believed that Ms. Suteera usually used customers money to pay her debts before paying for their tickets. The police believed that Lee Tours was not in business to scam customers but that Ms. Suteera was unable to set her priorities and used money from customers as if it was her own.

One of the victims, Ms. Thongsai Ernst said, "I booked a ticket via Lee Tours to Germany. When I arrived at the airport the officer told there was no seat according to the documents Lee Tours has given me. So I decided to call Lee Tours but no one answered and when I came back the shop was closed. I saw another victim there as well so we decided to report it to the police."

The police were able to reach Ms. Suteera who said she will mortgage her house to pay back all her victims by June 30.