The Samut Sakhon provincial court has issued a warrant for the arrest of a lottery vendor in Samut Sakhon who falsely claimed he had sold a set of 15 lottery tickets that won the first-prize of 90 million baht to a customer.
The lottery vendor, 35-year-old Thanawat Kamhaengphol, is wanted on charges of public fraud and violation of the Computer Crime Act for allegedly posting a hoax about the winning lottery tickets in the social media, prompting a media frenzy that transformed him into an instant media sensation supposedly for his honesty in not cheating his customer who was yet to claim his winning lottery tickets from him.
Pol Lt-Col Anurak Deeklai, inquiry inspector of Kok Kham police station in Muang district of Samut Sakhon, said Thanawat faces a maximum jail term of five years and a fine of not exceeding 100,000 baht for his alleged offences.
Meanwhile, the owner of a gas station in Muang district where Thanawat has a stall selling lottery tickets reported to Kok Kham police station on Sunday to prove his innocence that he had nothing to do with the lottery hoax.
The gas station owner whose name was not disclosed said he would not allow Thanawat to use space on his premises to sell lottery tickets again.
Thanawat and his wife have gone underground after police started looking for them for questioning.
