‘Crooked’ merchants under ‘Let’s Go Halves’ campaign to be investigated for possible fraud

The three-month economic stimulus package started on October 16 in a bid to stimulate domestic consumption. Under the scheme, 10 million people can avail of daily discounts on shopping of up to Bt150, capped at Bt3,000 at participating stores, while the government is handing the money to merchants via the Thung Ngern application.
“We have found that the [three] merchants have withdrawn money via the application but have no actual purchases made at their shops since the campaign started,” Utthaphol said.
“The office is currently gathering data from other merchants who might have been running similar ploys and will ask police to investigate them as well,” he said.
“We would like to warn merchants or customers who plan to use this campaign for purposes other than stimulating the economy to stop, as the Finance Ministry and Krung Thai Bank [which is responsible for disbursing the money] can check and verify each store’s purchase history,” Utthaphol said.
“However, the campaign will continue as planned despite fraudulent attempts, as there have been more than 400,000 merchants registered and total spending under the campaign has surpassed Bt5 billion,” he added.