A 38-year-old man allegedly cut off his left thumb in order to claim 16 million baht in insurance money from a number of insurance companies, Crime Suppression Division (CSD) police said. Acting CSD chief Pongpat Chayaphan said police will file fraud charges against Pichet Porntantipong, a native of Phuket's Kathu district, today.
Acting on a request made by Upornrat Boonwong of the Siam Commercial Samaggi Insurance Plc, police were told that on Jan 22 Mr Pichet tried to make a false insurance claim from her company for the loss of part of his thumb.
Mr Pichet, formerly an insurance firm worker himself, was found to have made similar claims with 30 other insurance companies.
According to a police probe report, he claimed he lost his thumb in a kitchen accident in his house in Phuket on Oct 11 last year.
He told the firms he was chopping pork bones when a friend in the kitchen accidentally dropped a pot on the floor.
He said the loud noise startled him and he accidentally cut off his left thumb, which rolled and fell into a burning stove.
The thumb could not be re-attached by doctors as it was too badly damaged, he claimed.
Mr Pichet then notified the insurance firms to claim medical insurance and compensation for the loss of his thumb.
CSD police said they were told by Dr Pattana Kijkailas, a bone specialist at the Forensic Institute, that it was too much of a coincidence that the thumb fell into a stove.
''The manner in which the thumb was cut off is also unbelievable. A thumb can't be severed with just one blow of a kitchen knife,'' police said, quoting the doctor.
Normally, patients wouldn't lose the thumb in such circumstances, he said.
When investigators checked Mr Pichet's background, they found that he used to be an insurance firm employee.
With 30 insurance policies, he could potentially have milked 16 million baht out of the companies.
Pol Col Pongpat instructed the affected insurance firms to lodge police complaints against Mr Pichet.
-BKK Post-
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