Public warned against paying for 'romantic' gifts

By Suriya Patathayo 
The Nation

 

 

Another warning has been issued about fraudsters using a "romance scam” to prey on more than 100 victims and extracting around Bt69 million.
 

At a ceremony at the police headquarters in Bangkok, a retrieved Bt85,200 was handed back to an unnamed victim from Samut Sakhon's Ban Phraew district who had been duped into sending Bt155,200 to a fraudster.

 

 

The Anti-Money Laundering Office (Amlo)'s Legal Affairs Division chief Peerapat Ingpongpan warned that the scammer, claiming to be a good-looking, wealthy foreigner feigning romantic intentions via a dating website or Facebook, would ask the victim to wire money to clear customs or a logistics company's procedure for an expensive gift that was being sent.

 

He said the Amlo hotline on 1710, set up in June, reported that 104 people had been duped out of a total of Bt69 million.

 

Deputy tourist police chief Surachate Hakparn said that Nigerian fraudsters were reportedly the first to use this online romance scam tactic and the police had seized almost Bt2 million to return to eight victims.

 

He said nine victims who had received more than Bt2 million were among the plaintiffs who filed police complaints in 107 romance scam cases that claimed damages worth Bt72 million.

 

Surachate said the separate "call-centre” scams had involved work with counterparts in eight countries to arrest 160 Thai and foreign suspects.

 

He cited the recent arrest of 16 Thais in the Philippines, 10 of whom had already been sent to face prosecution in Thailand while the other six were waiting for documents to be cleared and should be sent to Thailand in two weeks.

 

The call centres kept moving their operations, causing the police to chase of them in eight countries, resulting in the arrest of 109 Thais and 55 Taiwanese citizens to face the charges of colluding in fraud and colluding in a transnational criminal syndicate, he said.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30353879

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-09-06

I find it difficult to believe anyone in any country can be stupid enough to fall for this idea.

9 minutes ago, webfact said:

eported that 104 people had been duped out of a total of Bt69 million.

Boy there seems to be an abundance of gullable people out there these days

11 minutes ago, overherebc said:

I find it difficult to believe anyone in any country can be stupid enough to fall for this idea.

Seems to be one country that has fallen for it time after time for the past ten years.

27 minutes ago, webfact said:

Public warned against paying for 'romantic' gifts

How about warning gullible farangs to by houses, cars, motorcycles etc. for their newfound love?  But the money 'invested' will of course stay in Thailand, so no harm done.

3 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

How about warning gullible farangs to by houses

Two UU's in Vacuum and you left one out in buy... sorry - just being picky and having fun... 

Darn it, wish I knew about it a little sooner. I just paid for a romantic gift. She loved it.

1 hour ago, overherebc said:

I find it difficult to believe anyone in any country can be stupid enough to fall for this idea.

I don't. Lately I've been renovating an old house, the IQ of the attending somchais must be four digits in the minus. The longer I stay here the more convinced I become the majority of Thais are not equipped with a fully functioning brain.

The joke says the Nigerians were first to use this scam and now adopted into Thai culture? 

1 hour ago, DrTuner said:

I don't. Lately I've been renovating an old house, the IQ of the attending somchais must be four digits in the minus. The longer I stay here the more convinced I become the majority of Thais are not equipped with a fully functioning brain.

Ok slightly of topic but I'll tell you anyway. ?

Changing some things in the garden a couple of years ago I wanted a flowering bush moved. I didn't stand and watch, my fault.

Later I checked it was in the correct corner. After two days it died. That's when I found out it had been chopped off at ground level and stuck in the ground just enough to keep it upright. The root system had been dug up and thrown onto the spare ground  close to the house. ??.

6 hours ago, overherebc said:

I find it difficult to believe anyone in any country can be stupid enough to fall for this idea.

A quick "Google" will prove you so wrong..

5 hours ago, overherebc said:

Ok slightly of topic but I'll tell you anyway. ?

Changing some things in the garden a couple of years ago I wanted a flowering bush moved. I didn't stand and watch, my fault.

Later I checked it was in the correct corner. After two days it died. That's when I found out it had been chopped off at ground level and stuck in the ground just enough to keep it upright. The root system had been dug up and thrown onto the spare ground  close to the house. ??.

On the upside, Somchai cut the time taken to plant it by 90%. Keng mak! 

As always, a fool & their money are easily parted.....

.

Edited September 7, 20187 yr by animatic
Want to delete

16 hours ago, overherebc said:

I find it difficult to believe anyone in any country can be stupid enough to fall for this idea.

PT Barnum said

“There’s a sucker born every minute.”

I  think there’s more than that.

Edited September 7, 20187 yr by animatic

That's over half a million baht per chick.... Where do these women hang out.... im lucky if I get free noodles

9 minutes ago, animatic said:

PT Barnum said

“There’s a sucker born every minute.”

I  think there’s more than that.

Population explosion

?Does any of the short times I've had through the years consider an extraction?

16 hours ago, Vacuum said:

How about warning gullible farangs to by houses, cars, motorcycles etc. for their newfound love?  But the money 'invested' will of course stay in Thailand, so no harm done.

The real problem about these "romantic gifts" is the money is going out Thailand.

17 hours ago, overherebc said:

I find it difficult to believe anyone in any country can be stupid enough to fall for this idea.

Well, there are people who pays for sick buffaloes.... so I'm not surprised.

This is akin to the Nigerian email fraud years back.

It's well known, most people know someone who's been propositioned, probably after trolling facebook, yet still they fall for it

Normally it should be other-way around. Seems like French immigrants have started their scam here after their British counterpart.

That 2nd photo in the OP is just brilliant ?

Edited September 7, 20187 yr by BobbyL

27 minutes ago, Vacuum said:

Well, there are people who pays for sick buffaloes.... so I'm not surprised.

??

At least there's is a chance of horizontal reward if someone pays for the buffalo.

??

If you find falling for scams such as these difficult to credit, and you think that the victims are exclusively of low intelligence, a certain ethnic group, gender, country or region, I recommend positioning yourself outside the entrance to Mah Boon Krong to watch for the day; you will soon be disabused of your notions.

 

The fact is, people have been fooling other people since humans first walked upright, and they will continue to do so. If you think you are too smart to be fooled, you simply haven't met someone who is accomplished enough to convince you yet - or maybe you have, but you haven't yet understood that the news you consume every day to reinforce your prejudices and predilections is also a form of scam.

18 hours ago, overherebc said:

I find it difficult to believe anyone in any country can be stupid enough to fall for this idea.

I find it very easy to believe that women in this country fall for this scam. Not all but the majority of Thai women as you already know are quite greedy. So when she thinks her rich falang  millionaire is stuck at the airport and she thinks she's just hit the jackpot she'll cough up a couple thousand dollars as an investment in what she thinks is her lottery ticket. You guys know all of this.

18 hours ago, overherebc said:

I find it difficult to believe anyone in any country can be stupid enough to fall for this idea.

That statement sounds like it comes from a very "naieve" person.

  Exactly the type of people that get caught up in these scams?

Victims are greedy people and that is why this scam will propagate. Greed and more greed.....

18 hours ago, kenk24 said:

Two UU's in Vacuum and you left one out in buy... sorry - just being picky and having fun... 

Kenk. You are simply out of order.

18 hours ago, overherebc said:

I find it difficult to believe anyone in any country can be stupid enough to fall for this idea.

I find it unfair as nobody seems to be aware of the many untold success stories