Empty tank scam fools taxi passengers On April 3, a Nonthaburi couple left their home to go to Suvarnabhumi airport to catch a flight to India. They didn't make it.
Everything seemed normal when they entered an orange taxi outside their home, but as they drove along Ratchapruek Road, the cab slowed to a stop, apparently out of petrol.
The driver turned around in his seat and told them that he was disabled and needed them to push the car to the side of the road for him. The couple obliged.
The husband left the cab first, followed by his wife. The moment they were out of the car, the driver restarted the taxi and sped off, taking with him all of their belongings.
Without money or phones, the desperate couple set out on foot to the nearest police station in Nonthaburi's Muang district to report the incident. They walked for more than an hour.
The police told them there was little hope of finding the driver, but Nonthaburi police commander Pol Maj Gen Thanayut Wuthicharasthamrong had other ideas.
He ordered an investigation and police soon discovered that more than 10 other similar incidents involving a taxi had taken place in Bangkok and Pathum Thani in the past few months.
With the help of the victims, a sketch artist drew an image of the driver, while investigators reviewed surveillance recordings from cameras installed along the route they took.
One camera outside a convenience store had captured the orange taxi on film, but the image was blurry.
Pol Maj Gen Thanayut then turned his attention to the couple's belongings.
Police quickly discovered the driver had sold the couple's phones at a second-hand shop in Bangkok's Huai Kwang district. However, the shop owner had no personal details about the person who sold him the phones.
Luckily, police obtained a phone number used by the suspect to call the shop.
On Tuesday, police managed to pinpoint the suspect's whereabouts from his mobile phone signal.
Wallop Uthong, 54, was traced to a resort in Bang Pla Ma district of Suphan Buri where he was spending the night with his mistress.
Mr Wallop allegedly told police he had stolen the couple's belongings. He was charged with the theft.
Police seized his taxi and later searched his house in Nonthaburi, discovering hundreds of valuable items stolen from other victims – including a four-month-old Pomeranian puppy they said was taken in a similar drive-off heist.
Mr Wallop allegedly said he committed his scam about 12 times in the past several months.
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