Woman who claimed Bangkok cabby robbed her admits to lying, wounds were self-inflicted

A Thai woman could be jailed after falsely claiming that she was robbed by a taxi driver in Bangkok. 

Thongprakai Suksrirat, 26, previously took to Facebook on Wednesday (Feb 21) alleging that she was assaulted while taking a cab from an entertainment venue in the Ratchadaphisek area to her condominium in Seri Thai reports AsiaOne and The Nation. 

She claimed that her handbag, along with ATM cards, identification cards, and cash amounting to 14,000 THB ($589) were taken. 

To make her story more believable, Thongprakai even inflicted injuries on herself. 

She filed a complaint at Lat Prao Police Station at 3.45 am on the same day. 

A police source revealed that the investigators doubted her account and after interrogation, Thongprakai ’s lie was exposed. 

Police Major-General Thirapat Wongratpithak, the commander of the Metropolitan Police Division 4, said Thongprakai  "admitted during the interrogation that she had made up the story”.

Said Thirapat: "Her wounds were self-inflicted with an eyebrow tweezer. Now, police are waiting for medical results on whether she also used drugs."

The police added that they did not see the ‘robbery’ after combing through footage from security cameras at the intersection. 

What was captured though, was Thongprakai getting off a cab and going straight to her condominium alone. 

She did not stop at the intersection to withdraw as she had claimed. 

Thongprakai and a friend exited the condominium about 30 minutes and went to a police station to file the complaint. 

Lat Prao police chief Pol Colonel Passakorn Ratanapanadda said that Thongprakai will face two charges, including filing false statements with the authorities.

If convicted, she could be jailed top to three years, and fined a maximum of 5,000 THB ($210). 

She is also charged with violating the computer crime act, by posting a false accusation on her Facebook account.

The charge carries a maximum of five years jail and a fine of 100,000 THB ($4212). 

Thongprakai later admitted to the media: "The wounds were self-inflicted with a razor. I did it under stress. At that moment, I thought there was no way out. I felt tremendous pressure. Now, the pressure is heavier.

"I filed the complaint because my friend encouraged me to. She was concerned about me. She thought (my story) was real, so the issue escalated out of control.

"I would like to offer my apology to all taxi drivers for damaging their reputation."