Love con job: Thai romance scammer busted for netting 2.6 million baht

The Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) arrested a Thai man operating a romance scam using a fake social media profile of a woman to dupe nearly 2.6 million baht from a victim.

The arrest was made following a complaint filed by a victim last year. The victim revealed that the scammer used the profile of an attractive woman to approach him on a social media platform. The scammer invited the victim to invest in cryptocurrency, promising a high return of 50%.

After the victim expressed interest, the scammer sent him a website for registration. In the beginning, the investment gave the victim a high profit and he could withdraw money without any complications. On the back of this, the victim transferred 2.58 million baht into the website to gain more profit.

However, he faced more and more conditions when he wanted to withdraw his money. The website required him to pay taxes, pay withdrawal fees, or invest more to access both the initial investment and profits.

The victim later realised that he had been duped into investing in a fake business and reported the issue to the CCIB.

CCIB officers managed to arrest suspects responsible for facilitating the scam by providing bank accounts but could not reach the main operator.

The suspects confessed to the police that they opened bank accounts and gave them to a Thai man in exchange for the money of 7000 baht per account.

The alleged mastermind behind the scam was a Thai man, later identified as 21 year old Thanusak. He was arrested yesterday, September 5, at his accommodation in the Soi Rangsit-Nakhon Nayok 24 in the Thanyaburi district of Pathum Thani province near Bangkok.

Thanusak claimed that he was not the mastermind behind the scam. He just gathered bank accounts for the gang to use to receive money from victims.

According to the police report, Thanusak had a drug-related criminal history and was arrested several times in the past. In this scam case, Thanusak faces two charges:

• Section 242(1) of the Criminal Law: committing fraud by pretending to be another person. The penalty will be imprisonment of up to five years, a fine of up to 100,000 baht, or both.
• Section 14(1) of the Computer Act: importing distorted or fake information into computer systems which cause damages to the public. The penalty will be imprisonment of up to five years and a fine of up to 100,000 baht.

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