Thai man caught in disguise during gold heist paid professional to transform him into ‘handsome foreigner’

The Thai man who disguised himself as a “foreigner” before going out to steal from a gold shop did not attempt the transformation by himself as police first assumed  — new information has emerged that he paid a professional makeup artist THB10,000 (US$300) to change him into a “handsome foreigner.”

In a bid to warn fellow makeup artists, Kanokporn Kemasing shared the before and after photos of her client-turned-gold bandit Wongsakorn Petchsanan, the 30-year-old who got arrested (and became a joke on the news) for stealing four gold necklaces from a shop on Bangkok’s outskirts on Monday.

Wongsakorn asked the staff at the Aurora shop at Big C Bangbuathong to look at four different necklaces before dashing away with THB471,600 (US$14,410) worth of gold.

Kanokporn, who claimed she had no advance knowledge of her customer’s criminal intent, wrote on Facebook yesterday that Wongsakorn had contacted her last Wednesday, claiming he wanted to transform into a completely different man in an attempt to “win back his girlfriend”.

How would that work, you may ask? According to Kanokporn, he said he wanted to pretend to be his own friend in order to ask his girlfriend what went wrong between the two of them so that he could find a way to fix their relationship.

Kanokporn said that she accepted the job following Wongsakorn’s plea.

“I told him that I had [makeup] classes to teach, but he insisted that his family was falling apart and asked me to help him. He said, ‘Help me, My daughter is only 11 months old. She’s adorable,” Kanokporn said.

On Thursday, Kanokporn spent four hours on the makeup to fulfill his request to make him “look like a handsome man.” She charged him a discounted price of THB3,000 (US$90), Amarin TV reported.

But when she messaged him to find out how his romantic pursuit went, he only replied that his girlfriend was not home. So he came in for a second session.

Kanokporn did the same makeup for him on Sunday for THB7,000 (US$210) and requested permission to snap before and after photos for her portfolio.

Nevertheless, Kanokporn felt something was off.

“While I was doing his makeup, he asked me many times how long it would last, and I told him that the beard would last 2-3 days but the [fake] nose would come off quite quickly.”

Kanokporn found out from the news later why Wongsakorn needed the makeup — to pull off the theft the next day. (Editor’s note: By the time he was arrested, his nose was clearly coming off.)

“My students showed me the news clip … my hands were shaking,” she said.

Kanokporn decided to share her story as a cautionary tale to other makeup artists to be more careful when clients demand a complete transformation.

“We should never be reckless. We should ask clients for their Facebook and a copy of ID for transparency,” she said.

“I wanted to use my talent to help people, but some people simply took advantage of me and abused my work.”

Meanwhile, Wongsakorn has been charged with snatching. He’s facing a prison sentence of up to five years and a maximum fine of THB10,000 (US$300).