Exercises

Out of cash

Photo courtesy of Bangkok Post

What would you do if you received a call from the operator of a brand you use saying you were the lucky winner of 60,000 baht? Accept the prize, naturally. That was what one man did, but he was later cheated of all his money. Read this story from the Bangkok Post to find out what happened.

Kitichai Rungcharoenkitphaisan, 44, was so overwhelmed with the news that he did not even suspect that such a good thing would turn into misfortune.

Instead of getting 60,000 baht as promised, Mr Kitichai was shocked by the loss of nearly 19,000 baht from his bank account to people he did not know.

�I got a call from woman who told me I had won the second prize from a mobile phone company. She told me to press nine if I wanted to accept the award,� Kitichai told the Bangkok Post.

He followed the instructions and a woman answered and asked for his name and the number of his bank account.

She told him he would receive the 60,000 baht prize minus the five percent tax that would be deducted from it. He accepted the conditions.

The woman told him to check for the deposit in his account at an ATM an hour later, and to take his mobile phone with him to contact her boss.

FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS

Kitichai went to an ATM, checked his account balance and found there had been no new deposits.

Ten minutes later, a man called him on his phone to say the money had not yet been transferred. The man told him to check again later.

�He asked how much I had in my savings, and I said I had 19,000 baht,� Kitichai said.

The man told him to re-insert the ATM card, enter his code, select others and then transfer money. The man gave him an account number, and the five-digit code 18972, which he said was to unlock the system and enable the transfer.

GETTING CHEATED

�At that time, I felt a little suspicious and asked if this was a deception. The man insisted that once the process was completed, the system would be automatically linked, and that if I didn�t follow his instructions, I wouldn�t get the money,� Kitichai said.

But after he pressed confirm, the ATM slip came out showing he had transferred 18,972 baht to the man�s account.

The man said there was some mistake during the transfer, and he would return the money as well as the 60,000-baht prize to Kitichai�s account an hour later.

�But I didn�t believe him any more. At that moment, I realised I had been cheated,� he said. �I�m still angry with myself. I have transferred money through ATMs several times. I shouldn�t have let them fool me like this.�

Exercises

Read the story. Then rearrange the following sentences so they are in the order that they appeared in the story.

1.Kitichai went to an ATM, checked his account balance, and found there had been no new deposits.

2.The man said he would return the money to Kitichai�s account an hour later.

3. A woman told him to press nine if he wanted to accept the award.

4. A woman answered the call and asked for Kitichai�s name and the number of his bank account.

	brand (n): a type of product made by a particular company overwhelm (v): to have such a strong emotional effect on somebody that it is difficult for them to resist or know how to react suspect (v): to have an idea that something is probably true or likely to happen, especially something bad, but without having definite proof misfortune (n): bad luck deduct (v): to take away money, points, etc. from a total amount transfer (v): to move from one place to another; to move something or somebody from one place to another deception (n): the act of deliberately making somebody believe something that is not true