Love cons: Thai woman still at large after tomboy romance scams
A Thai woman remains at large after orchestrating seven romance scams, swindling money from tomboy victims. She allegedly planned to marry another victim on December 19 for financial gain.
The most recent patsy, Arthit, sought help from non-profit organisation Saimai Survive after losing 160,000 baht in cash and valuables to the scammer, Sunisa. The suspect tricked Arthit into an engagement before disappearing once she got what she wanted.
Arthit, who works as a party entertainer at a nightclub in Bangkok’s Rama IX neighbourhood, revealed that she met Sunisa at her workplace. Sunisa hired her for 30,000 baht to accompany her and a friend on a three-day trip to Phu Kradueng National Park in Loei province.
Arthit agreed to the work and travelled with Sunisa and her friend. After the trip, Sunisa convinced Arthit to sell her mobile phone, promising to buy her a new one. Arthit complied, despite the new phone never materialising.
Sunisa then proposed marriage to Arthit, even calling her mother to arrange a suitable date for the wedding. Believing Sunisa’s intentions, Arthit borrowed 160,000 baht from a friend to host the dream wedding. An engagement ceremony was held on November 10, after which Sunisa instructed Arthit not to contact anyone.
No wedding was held after that. Sunisa took Arthit to Nakhon Ratchasima, frequently changing accommodations, and later to Bangkok, where she continued the same behaviour.
Sunisa banned Arthit from meeting or contacting anyone, threatening to harm Arthit’s mother and friends if she disobeyed.
Arthit’s mother, worried about her daughter’s disappearance, searched for her in Loei and filed a missing person report with the police. During her investigation, she met Sunisa’s parents and discovered that Sunisa committed similar scams multiple times in the past.
On December 9, Arthit managed to escape from Sunisa and contacted her mother, who picked her up from a hotel in the Sukhumvit area of Bangkok. They returned to their home province of Songkhla before taking legal action against Sunisa. However, the case had made no progress.
Arthit revealed that Sunisa had previously orchestrated wedding scams seven times and had been arrested four times before. Shockingly, she recently discovered that Sunisa is now in a relationship with another tomboy and is planning to marry her on December 19.
The organisation vowed to follow up on the case urgently to prevent Sunisa from scamming yet another victim.
