Thai woman steals 560,000 baht from businessman in romance scam
A Thai woman confessed to working with a romance scam gang to defraud a Thai businessman of approximately 560,000 baht.
The victim, 41 year old Nontaphan, reached out to non-profit organisation Saimai Survive on May 9 after losing 560,000 baht to the 26 year old Thai woman named Akira. He sought their help to track down the woman, who was still at large at that time.
Nontaphan explained that he used a Facebook dating group to find a partner due to his busy schedule. Akira approached him and expressed interest, and they spent time together at a luxury riverside resort in Kanchanaburi province on April 21.
They continued communicating online and met again on May 4 when Nontaphan booked a luxury pool villa for them.
Nontaphan fell asleep and woke up to find Akira gone. He checked his valuables, which were all untouched but forgot to check his mobile banking app.
Nontaphan later discovered that a credit card balance of 193,027 baht was exchanged for cash at a money exchange shop in England on April 21, and another 368,833 baht was exchanged in the same country on May 4. His money disappeared on the dates he was with Akira.
Nontaphan filed a complaint against Akira at Bang Kaew Police Station and learned she committed fraud twice before.
Scam gang conspiracy
Nontaphan expressed his disappointment, revealing that he planned to spend the rest of his life with Akira and even involve her in his business. He also blamed the bank’s lax security measures for making it easy for scammers to steal.
Further police investigation led to Akira’s arrest and revealed that she was not working alone. She confessed to being hired by a scam gang to facilitate their operations.
Akira’s role was to find victims through dating platforms and apps and arrange meetings with them. She would then install an app on the victim’s phone, allowing the gang to remotely control the device and conduct financial transactions or use the credit card.
The bank’s security measures were quite strict and difficult for fraudsters to steal but Akira made all the complications disappear. She sneaked to use the victim’s mobile phone to access a one-time password and other information the fraud gang needed.
Nevertheless, most banks require facial recognition to complete transactions but the police are still investigating how the scam gang bypassed this security measure.
Officers are warning people to be wary of this new romance scam tactic. They will continue to investigate the full process of the scam, to develop specific measures to prevent it at a later date.
