Bogus monk steals over 100k baht from monks during retreats

Police are warning temples nationwide after a scammer, disguised as a Buddhist monk, targeted genuine monks during religious retreats, stealing over 114,000 baht from at least three victims by tricking them out of their banking app passcodes.

Today, details emerged of the suspect, who presents himself as ‘Phra Sukrit’, travelling between temples to join meditation retreats. After gaining the trust of the real monks, he would ask for their banking passcodes under false pretenses. He would then borrow their mobile phones, claiming his own device had no credit and that he urgently needed to call his sick mother, before secretly transferring money out of their accounts.

To bypass bank safety protocols requiring facial verification for transactions exceeding 50,000 baht, the fraudster deliberately kept individual transfers under that threshold.

Phra Chatchawat and Phra Assawin, two monks residing at a temple in Nonthaburi province, released photographs of the suspect to the press to raise public and monastic awareness. Phra Chatchawat explained that the incident occurred in December last year during a meditation retreat at Huai Nakharat Temple in Kanchanaburi province, where he met the suspect and subsequently lost 45,000 baht from an inheritance account containing two million baht.

At least three monks have fallen victim to the scam so far, with total damages exceeding 114,000 baht. Phra Chatchawat has filed a formal complaint with investigators at Nong Khao Police Station in Kanchanaburi.

Officers are now gathering evidence and circulating the suspect's photograph to temples nationwide, which is especially important as Buddhist Lent begins today.