PATTAYA, THAILAND – A 40-year-old cannabis shop operator in Pattaya filed a police report after an alleged 13,000-baht fraud attempt involving disputed cannabis flower invoices.
Disputed visit to cannabis shop
According to shop owner Siranat, a Thai woman entered the store at around 3:30 p.m. on 18 February and demanded immediate payment for a supposed cannabis flower delivery worth 13,000 baht. The demand made her suspicious because, she said, all orders were processed exclusively through a business partner as a legal entity using a fixed payment system.
No documents, but a phone call
When Siranat asked the visitor to present purchase documents and receipts, the woman was reportedly unable to show any paperwork. Instead, the woman suggested calling a foreign man who was allegedly responsible for the outstanding claim and then placed the call.
Alleged threats over the phone
During the subsequent call, the foreign man claimed the shop had not paid for three months and now had to hand over the money immediately, according to the shop owner’s account.
“When I insisted on checking official documents, he raised his voice, used vulgar language and even threatened violence,”
said Siranat, shop owner, who stated she recorded the conversation as evidence.
Police complaint and link to former employee
The operator then filed a complaint at Mueang Pattaya Police station and also contacted local outlet The Pattaya News to warn other business owners about similar tactics. After consulting her business partner, she learned that, according to her, the foreign man had previously worked for the partner’s company but had already been dismissed.
Police withhold identities
Investigating officers had not released any details about the identities of the Thai woman or the foreign man and had not announced any further progress in the case. The alleged fraud attempt came at a time of heightened sensitivity in Pattaya’s cannabis scene following a separate, earlier murder of a Russian cannabis shop operator.
Background: earlier killing in Pattaya cannabis scene
In that previous case, online messages reportedly indicated that two suspects had ordered the later Russian victim to settle an alleged 120,000 US dollars debt linked to heroin before the killing. Shortly after these threats, contact between the man and his mother broke off, prompting her to travel to the country to search for him until police found his dismembered body on an abandoned property and arrested two Russian suspects based on surveillance camera footage.