Alleged Thai ‘love scammer’ denied bail in Australia

A Thai national detained in Sydney, Australia, for allegedly committing “romance fraud” was denied bail yesterday. Siriluck Fatima Chimmalee is accused of stealing from men she met online through a dating app. She is facing trial for over 100 charges of fraud.

Police say 30 year old Siriluck allegedly pretended to be a registered remitter and charged customers steep inflation rates to exchange large sums of money from Australia to other countries – charges to which she has so far pleaded not guilty.

She used social media to lure in victims and to show off her collection of Gucci, Chanel and Louis Vuitton handbags, police say.

The 30 year old alleged love scammer, who has been detained since February 2020, went to Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court yesterday to make a bid for her temporarily release until she faces trial, but her bail request was denied.

Siriluck told Acting Judge Graeme Henson that she needed to be released to procure important documents in Thailand to help in her trial. She said that because she had been denied legal aid funding for investigations to be carried out on her behalf in Thailand and Australia, no one could get the documents for her ahead of her trial, so she needed to go herself.

“Now that the expert evidence has been served recently in that regard, I need to be in the library to prepare the case for this trial,” she argued.

“How would releasing you into the community assist in that investigation when you can’t leave the country?” replied the judge, before denying her request.

In this case, Siriluck has so far pleaded not guilty to 106 charges, including several counts of “dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception” and “dealing with identity information to commit an indictable offence.”

The judge denied the Thai national’s bail request, citing that she is also facing trial in May next year in a different case in which she has pleaded guilty to charges which will most probably land her a jail term. Siriluck plead guilty to two counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception – one of which was a fraud charge relating to half a million dollars.

Siriluck is also facing trial in May next year in a different case in which she is accused of scamming Thais of over 5 million baht.

The judge also pointed out that her previous bail applications had been denied by the Crown prosecution.

Fraud carries a maximum prison sentence of ten years in Australia.

SOURCE: News