Love on the rocks: Thai woman’s 5 million baht loss leads to threats from scammer

A Thai woman approached the non-profit organisation Saimai Survive for help after she lost 5 million baht to a romance scammer and faced threats after she tried to distance herself from the violent swindler.

The 37 year old victim revealed to the Saimai Survive that she lost 5 million baht to the scammer in three months. The woman explained that she met the fraudulent trickster on a dating application in April of this year. The man was charming at first and flirted with her until she was convinced to meet him.

According to the victim, the man promised to help pay off her 800,000 baht debt. To gain her trust, the man claimed to possess not one but two bachelor’s degrees in economics and boasted of being a stock market investment expert with a lot of money deposited in a foreign bank.

The man convinced the victim to create some financial credit by buying a car and paying back her debt would be easier. She was convinced and bought the car even though she could not drive. Two weeks later, the man then suggested she bought another car, which she did.

The scammer persuaded her into borrowing money from several financial institutions and told her to borrow money from her friends and colleagues. He also urged her to buy expensive valuables and gold, which he kept.

As the victim slowly began to realise the scam, she attempted to distance herself from the shark. They engaged in several heated disputes, one of which saw her physically assaulted by the scammer. He then threatened her with violence again and said he would release explicit pictures and videos of her on social media. The man even turned up at her workplace to threaten her.

The woman disclosed that the scammer sold the two cars at a local car showroom in Pathum Thani province near Bangkok. She was left penniless and burdened with nearly 5 million baht of debt. She secretly moved to a new accommodation to escape from the scammer and sought help from Saimai Survive.

The founder of the non-profit organisation, Ekkaphop Lueangprasert, reported to the media that the victim has been struggling with bipolar disorder, and the scammer took this as a chance to control and manipulate her. The victim, in a state of fear, found herself paralysed, unable to regain control when faced with such menacing coercion.

Ekkaphop did not confirm whether the victim has reported the issue to the police.