Accused con woman claims to have wed only 7 men
A 32-YEAR-OLD Loei woman, finally arrested for allegedly duping at least 13 men into marrying her and then fleeing with their dowries and wedding gifts, has denied the accusations. She also claimed to have only wed seven men – each of whom she had been dating for a period of time and had broken up with before starting new relationship.
The rest of her alleged victims weren’t duped into marriage but gave her money for a fruit-selling business, she told a police press conference in Bangkok yesterday.
With tears in her eyes, Jariyaporn Buayai said she had no intention to dupe anyone to marry her and her parents had nothing to do with it.
She also denied an accusation that she stole an ex-husband’s pickup truck, which police found in her possession during the arrest. It was given to her for her use, she said.
Asked if she ever loved any of the seven men, she sobbed and went silent.
Jariyaporn was arrested on Thursday night in Samut Sakhon where she stayed with husband Kittisak Tantiwatkul, 33. Police then arrested Kittisak at a Nakhon Pathom hotel. Kittisak was wanted in a warrant for conspiring to defraud a fruit shop. He claimed to be a victim of Jariyaporn, whom he said told him she was pregnant with his child. Jariyaporn admitted to using the Thai ID card of another woman, Soiphetch Paleewan, to open a bank account to hold the men’s money. This was consistent with the 27-year-old Soiphetch’s testimony to police on Thursday that she had lent her card to Jariyaporn years ago for a job application in Pattaya, but when Jariyaporn didn’t return it she obtained a new card.
Central Investigation Bureau chief Pol Lt-General Thitirat Nongharnpitak said that although police was convinced of Soiphetch’s innocence, they would further probe whether Jariyaporn’s elusive parents were in on the scheme with their daughter. They reportedly showed up to all of the woman’s weddings.
Thitirat said Jariyapporn’s fraud wasn’t complicated, repeatedly using the same trick on different men since 2011. So far, 14 victims have filed complaints against Jariyaporn, amounting to more than Bt3 million in losses. Police believe there were more victims, Thitirat said.
Police would prosecute Jariyaporn for fraud charges and retrieve her assets to return them to the rightful owners, he said.
Some 13 men had filed complaints with the Crime Suppression Bureau on Tuesday against Jariyaporn for defrauding them of Bt100,000 to Bt500,000 each. Lawyer Songkran Atchariyasap brought one of the men to the press conference. Songkran later took the victim to police to ask that they withdraw a confiscation order on the truck found under Jariyaporn’s possession, as he had filed a stolen car report for it in Rayong.
Jariyaporn reportedly had five arrest warrants for embezzlement and fraud offences in Pathum Thani, Chanthaburi, Chumphon, Rayong and Loei. Those alleged crimes were committed before she allegedly repeatedly lured men into a romantic relationship online and then ran away with the dowry money.
Lawyer Songkran said police could seize Jariyaporn’s assets, although Thai law normally regards a dowry as an asset given out of desire and automatically belongs to the female recipient. In this case, said Songkran, the woman allegedly had a criminal intent and also disguised herself as another person.
