Police in Pattaya recently arrested a 38-year-old fortune-teller after he stole a woman’s smartphone while she was praying at a temple, just so he could confirm his own prediction. The victim, a 19-year-old woman named Pim, reportedly took pitty on a shabbily dressed fortune teller offering his services outside a temple, and stopped to learn her fortunes in the new year.
The fortune-teller, identified as 38-year-old Udomsap Mueangkaew, used a deck of cards to read the woman’s fortune and warned her that she faced bad luck and the loss of a valuable item in the near future. He also offered to prevent these events from occurring, for a fee, but the young woman refused.
Pim went about her day, going into the temple to pray, as she had planned, but she soon realized that the iPhone she had placed beside her had disappeared. Remembering the fortune-teller’s prediction, she immediately went back to confront him for stealing her phone. Udomsap denied any involvement and reportedly told her the theft was just a confirmation of his prediction. He even had the audacity to describe the appearence of the thief.
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The 19-year-old woman didn’t let herself be swayed and instead made a scene that saw passers-by come to her aid. People started going through the fortune-teller’s things and Pim’s iPhone was found at the bottom of a face mask box.
Faced with irefutable evidence that he had committed the theft, Udomsap Mueangkaew pleaded with his victim not to press charges, claiming that this was his first offence and he had only committed the crime because he needed money. However, the young woman decided to call the police and reveal his scam to prevent others from falling prey to his tactics.
Just a few weeks ago, we wrote about a family of shamans in Austria who convinced wealthy victims that their jewelry was cursed and requiered exorcising, only to steal them.
