Thai transwoman nabbed in 26 million baht scam targeting Japanese nationals

Metropolitan Police Bureau officers arrested a Thai transwoman yesterday after she scammed 73 Japanese nationals over a ten-year period. The total losses amounted to nearly 26 million baht.

The 49 year old Thai transwoman, Uthai “Amy” Nantakhan, was arrested yesterday, August 4, at her condominium in the Bangkapi district of Bangkok. Her arrest followed a report from the latest Japanese victim who lost 15 million baht to Amy.

The 36 year old Japanese man told Thonglor Police Station officers that he met Amy in January. Amy claimed to be from Hong Kong and asked him to support her hotel stay.

The two stayed in touch and later began a relationship. Amy then tricked him into buying gold for her, which she exchanged for cash before disappearing.

Further investigation revealed the Japanese man was not Amy’s only victim. She had swindled money from many Japanese victims using a similar plot.

Amy pretended to be a Hong Kong resident and gained sympathy with various lies. For example, she would claim to have lost her wallet and need money for passport renewal, or feign a Covid-19 infection to solicit funds for treatment.

Amy also scammed victims by luring them into investing in a fake business, later claiming the project failed and her bank account was frozen.

Police reported that Amy had scammed 73 Japanese victims between 2011 and 2024, with total losses of 26 million baht:

• 25 victims with 942,000 baht reported in 2011
• 9 victims with 2.2 million baht reported in 2012
• 16 victims with 1.6 million baht reported in 2014
• 2 victims with 330,000 baht reported in 2015
• 8 victims with 307,000 baht reported in 2018
• 6 victims with 293,000 baht reported in 2020
• 3 victims with 90,000 baht reported in 2022
• 1 victim with 16 million baht reported in 2023
• 3 victims with 4.1 million baht reported in 2024

Amy was charged under Section 341 of the Criminal Law: committing fraud. The penalty is imprisonment of up to three years, a fine of up to 60,000 baht, or both.

In a related report, a Japanese man was arrested on July 30 after he attempted to sexually assault a drunk Thai woman. The Japanese man approached the woman while she was sitting in the Royal City Avenue (RCA) car park and attempted to take her to his hotel room, but the woman managed to escape from him and reported the matter to the police.