Thai Star Ning Panita Tumwattana: ‘My Socials Were Hacked by Online Gambling Promoters’

Panita Tumwattana, a Thai actress and model also known as Ning, says her social media channels, as well as those of a company she represents, have been taken over by online gambling promoters.

Tumwattana said scammers had been targeting her since the beginning of the year, after hacking her account to promote an online gambling website.

She took to her Instagram account to claim that a channel she is affiliated with on the Line chat app had been “illegally seized by malicious individuals,” the Thai media outlet News in Thailand reported.

Tumwattana added that “scammers” had also created a fake Line account and were using the channel to “impersonate her.”

She added that hackers had also seized control of a Line channel run by Sewa Thailand, a Bangkok-based cosmetics firm. Tumwattana works as a model and ambassador for the company. The channel in question has almost 211,000 followers.

“The scammers are impersonating Ning and making illegal use of her images,” Tumwattana’s representatives told her Instagram followers. “They are contacting her team and administrators. They are tricking victims into clicking messages or links that lead them to online gambling websites.”

Thai Actress Diana Flipo Also Hacked

“We can confirm that this is not being done by Ning or the Sewa Thailand team,” Tumwattana’s representatives told fans.

Tumwattana added that she was “currently working urgently” to resolve the issue by speaking to Line officials. She called on her fans to contact her and her team only through their official channels.

However, it appears that Tumwattana is not the only victim of hackers promoting gambling sites. In response to Tumwattana’s post, actress Diana Flipo stated that she had fallen victim to a similar hack on Line.

Flipo, a leading movie and drama star who made her debut in 2014, wrote: “I have just been through the same thing.”

In response to a concerned reply from Tumwattana, Flipo wrote: “I’ve now recovered control of my Line account. It took me about three days.”

Tumwattana is best known in Thailand for her acting and TV work. Recently, she appeared in a starring role in the series Deep Night, as well as a spinoff drama named Deep Night Side Story: The Two of Us, where she played the role of Meiji.

She was also one of the hosts of the hit variety TV title Kui Zap Show.

Last year, police in Thailand accused a couple of recruiting children to become money mules for online gambling operators. Officers say the duo used violence to coerce the children into silence.