A Thai Man Faking His Own Death On Facebook To Con His Family Out Of Funeral Money Was Scumbag Scam Artist Brilliance
(Source)- Netizens are heaping scorn on a Thai man and his wife after they faked his death on Facebook in a bid to scam family members for non-existent funeral costs. In a story that made national TV last night, Tachawit Janngiw had his wife post three photos of his “dead body” on the social media platform on Sunday. (His nose was even stuffed with what appeared to be cotton, in a gross, if realistic, touch.) “Last photo before deactivating his Facebook,” read the caption written by his wife. “Love you.”
When concerned commenters asked what happened, the wife wrote that he died of cancer and asthma (a double whammy!), after suffering for a long time. As to why no one seemed to notice he was deathly ill, that’s because he “pretended he was okay all along,” she insisted.
The wife, who was not identified, even call Tachawit’s mother, demanding that she transfer money. “His wife called me and said he was dead,” the mom told reporters in a broadcast interview, “She said she didn’t have money to prepare the body, so I sent her money on that same day.” Grief-stricken, the family wired THB20,000 (US$600) cash to Tachawit’s wife to buy a coffin and rent a vehicle to transport his body back to his hometown in Lampang province. The family contacted a temple and quickly began arranging a funeral for their beloved, whose corpse was meant to arrive the next day.
When neither the body nor his wife showed up, his cousin called Tachawit’s cell phone and, much to their shock, the “dead” guy picked up the phone — then quickly hung up after realizing who it was on the other end. The family had to cancel the funeral service after paying an allegedly unrecoverable THB60,000 (US$1,800).
As fucked up as this story is, I have to admit, that was a hell of a plan by our pal Tachawit. Nothing is real to old people unless it’s on Facebook. And that picture of Big T with cotton balls shoved up his nose was as good as a death certificate from the coroner in their eyes. Even Danny Ocean would be impressed with the cotton balls up the nose angle. If you plopped a copy of that day’s paper in the pic, that proof of death story would be as airtight as the $600 coffin Tachawit’s family bought him. Plus this picture will make me laugh until my own dying day.
Advertisement
Going with the death by cancer AND asthma route is galaxy brain thinking as well, no matter how fucked up it is. Everybody knows somebody that has been effected by cancer since it’s the worst disease on the planet and everybody knows somebody that had an inhaler during elementary school.
Again, Tachawit and his wife are absolute scumbags for pulling this move. But you have to tip your cap for them having the gumption to pull it off. You always hear how the true mark of a person’s life is how many people attend their funeral. But being able to see how much your family would spend on your funeral while pocketing the money seems like a decent scam. I guess if you go through this stunt, you are basically putting a price tag on how much your friends and family are worth to you since they will probably never speak to you again. But Tachawit clearly didn’t value them very much. Then again, he only walked away with $600, so they didn’t think much of him either. Actually I have to ask Donnie what $600 can get you in Thailand. You may be able to build a mansion in Thailand for $600 and live off the fat of the land. I guess you can also make the case that not going with a long con by drawing out a terminal fake disease as well as Tachawit answering his phone were total amateur moves. But nobody’s perfect. Even the incredible, damn near flawless plan in Ocean’s Eleven led to the events of Ocean’s Twelve and Thirteen being necessary.