13 foreigners arrested in romance scam crackdown in Nonthaburi
Police arrested 13 foreigners at an accommodation building in Nonthaburi on Monday, January 19, for operating a romance scam network. The suspects included 11 Nigerian men and two Ivorian nationals.
The crackdown was launched after a Thai woman filed a complaint with police late last year. She reported to Mueang Nong Khai Police Station that she had transferred more than 2 million baht to four mule bank accounts controlled by foreign scammers.
According to the victim, the suspect created a fake profile posing as a Chinese engineer and first approached her via Facebook. The two later continued communicating on LINE and eventually entered what she believed was a romantic relationship.
During their online relationship, the fake engineer frequently sent her photos of construction sites, claiming they were locations where he was working.
He later told the victim that he planned to operate a large construction project and asked to borrow money, promising to repay her shortly. However, the victim never received any money back.
Police investigated the complaint and later discovered that the scammer was part of a romance scam gang operating in the Muang Thong Thani area of Nonthaburi province.
Further investigation revealed that the gang members were staying in separate rooms within the same accommodation building in the Pak Kret district. Police launched a raid at around 1pm on Tuesday, forcing entry into multiple rooms simultaneously while the suspects were unaware.
Some of the suspects reportedly fled their rooms barefoot in an attempt to escape arrest but failed. Officers found several of them actively chatting with victims online at the time of the raid.
A total of 13 foreign suspects were arrested, including 11 Nigerian men and two Ivorian nationals. Most of them were found to have overstayed their visas, while five of the Nigerian suspects were confirmed to have entered Thailand illegally.
During searches of the rooms, officers seized four computers and 29 mobile phones. On their phones, police found the scammers created fake profiles using identities from various Asian and European nationalities to deceive victims.
Each gang member had a specific role. The group was divided into teams responsible for contacting victims, locating mule bank accounts, and managing money laundering operations. Some of them were dating Thai women and used their bank accounts as mule accounts.
Funds obtained from victims were reportedly converted into cryptocurrency before being transferred to bank accounts in Nigeria.
According to Thai news agency Ejan, the gang was found to be living a luxurious lifestyle in Thailand, with photos showing members enjoying luxury cruise trips within the country.
