Thai Restaurant Owners Get Infinity Jail Sentence Over Fraud

Two Thai restaurant owners will never see freedom again after being sentenced to 1,446 years in jail. A Bangkokcriminal court sentenced the two after they were convicted of defrauding the public in an online sales promotion that went awry.

Apichart (Jome) Paronjullaka and Prapassorn Bovornbancha, co-owners of Laemgate seafood restaurant offered customers e-coupons for cheap seafood buffets at the restaurant.

The e-coupons offered a ten-seat buffet set for 880 baht; a 20-seat seafood buffet set for 2,020 baht; and 3,000 baht for a 30-seat buffet set. Since early last year, as many as 20,000 customers bought the e-coupons from the couple, amounting to about 50 million baht.

Initially, customers were satisfied with the services but long wait times for advanced bookings proved to be too much.

The restaurant announced its closure, despite earning money off of the e-bookings, claiming that it could not get hold of enough fresh seafood to meet the demand. It then offered refunds to customers who purchased the now worthless coupons leaving many to lodge complaints with the Consumer Protection Police Division. On top of the seemingly multiple life-long sentences handed down, the couple was also ordered to pay back over 2 million THB to those who purchased the coupons.

SOURCE: Chiang Rai Times

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