A university student in Thailand has been forced to sleep outdoors after his bank account was frozen — all because he had lent it to a new “friend” who claimed he needed it for online sales.
The 22-year-old, known as Mr Thongtae, is a third-year Management Science student at a university in Udon Thani province.
He told reporters that in August, a Vietnamese fourth-year student approached him for help, saying he was selling goods online but did not have a bank account for customers to transfer payments to.
Believing it was harmless, Mr Thongtae agreed to let the student use his bank account.
Soon after, 50,000 baht (S$2,000) was transferred into his account.
Mr Thongtae withdrew the money for his friend as requested, but two weeks later, the bank abruptly froze his account.
With no access to his own money, he was unable to pay rent or meet day-to-day expenses.
After falling behind on payments for two months, he chose not to stay in his rented room until the situation was resolved.
Source: Khaosod
Instead, he has spent the last few nights sleeping in a faculty building on campus, where he could “barely sleep” due to constant mosquito bites.
Mr Thongtae visited the local police station to seek advice, but hit a dead end when the officer assigned to his case failed to answer his calls.
When asked about the “friend” who caused the situation, Mr Thongtae said he did not want to place blame on him.
He admitted he never imagined something so troublesome could arise from what felt like a simple act of goodwill, especially since his Vietnamese friend was far from home and seemed trustworthy.
He now sees the ordeal as a hard-earned lesson not to be overly trusting, even when dealing with friends.
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Featured image adapted from Khaosod.