PUBLISHED : 2 Feb 2025 at 18:58
A woman with alleged ties to Thailand’s largest romance scam has been arrested at Hat Yai International Airport, according to the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB).
Authorities took the 52-year-old female suspect into custody at the airport’s arrival terminal as she returned from Malaysia. She was wanted on multiple charges, including membership in a secret society, participation in a criminal organization, identity theft, and money laundering, all connected to her involvement in a notorious romance scam from 2022.
This case is infamously recognized as Thailand’s most extensive romance scam, where a transnational gang utilized a fabricated LinkedIn profile of a fake US army doctor to deceive a chief financial officer (CFO) of a multinational company in Thailand, resulting in the loss of 6.3 billion baht (approximately US$186 million).
The CFO herself faces multiple theft charges, and nearly 100 warrants have been issued for additional suspects, including both Thai nationals and Nigerians, amid ongoing efforts to locate them.
The CIB reported that the suspect admitted her identity upon being shown the warrant. She explained that her Nigerian partner instructed her to open bank accounts in Thailand for business purposes, as he was unable to do so due to his non-resident status.
She opened several accounts, allowing her partner to manage all financial transactions through them.
Investigators uncovered financial connections between the suspect’s accounts and the companies implicated in fraudulent transactions, prompting the issuance of the arrest warrant.
In 2017, the woman moved to Malaysia for work and met a Nigerian man with whom she developed a relationship.
She stated, “After living with him for two years, he took care of all expenses and asked me to open accounts in order to start a business in Thailand.”
“He compensated me 6,500 baht per account. I only realized later that these accounts were involved in receiving funds from fraud victims.”
The arrest follows a tip-off indicating that she planned to return to Thailand to visit her child.
