Monk scammed by online seller of ivory carving

 | Thu 22 Jul 2021 14:16 ICT

Chiang Mai police say that they have received a complaint from a 47 year old monk who said that he had gone online recently to purchase a Buddha image made of real ivory.

The monk who requested not to be named, told police that he was on Facebook when he came across a post selling a small Buddha amulet ostensibly made of ivory. The item was on sale for 4,500 baht.

The seller told the monk that because he was a monk he would receive a discount and only had to pay 3,560 baht, which he did.

Once the delivery date passed, the monk went back online to check on his purchase only to find that his Facebook profile had been blocked.

Ivory trading is illegal in Thailand. Chiang Mai police has also asked the media to inform the public that there are multiple online scams occurring during these times and it is best not to use untrusted sources.