Thai widow swindled in romance scam by fake college director

[webfact]

A 52 year old woman from Udon Thani has been swindled out of nearly 50,000 baht (US$1,386) in a romance scam by a man who claimed to be the director of a well-known vocational college. The man, who made first contact over Facebook, charmed and deceived her into a romantic entanglement before borrowing money and vanishing without a trace.

 

The report, filed today, details how the woman was approached on social media by a man named Suradech (surname withheld for privacy reasons), who presented himself as the director of a vocational college in Udon Thani’s Nong Han district.

 

Throughout their communication, which began in September 2022, Suradech shared concerns and sweet nothings, calling her “darling” and creating the illusion of a caring relationship. The woman, feeling lonely after her husband’s death, was comforted by his attention and began to trust him.

 

Amid a romance scam, Suradech shared photos of himself attending various meetings, complete with name tags identifying his supposed position. This solidified the woman’s trust in his identity.

As 2022 drew to a close, Suradech began to ask for loans, citing various emergencies such as car troubles and lost money.

 

Sympathetic and believing she was helping a man of status, she transferred amounts ranging from 200 to 10,000 baht at a time, totalling around 50,000 baht, reported KhaoSod.

 

Betrayal, legal action

 

He reassured her that as a director, he was good for the money and even gave her his ATM card, claiming his salary would be deposited there for her to withdraw and settle his debts. However, when the time came to repay, excuses piled up, and attempts to withdraw money from the ATM revealed a balance of only 85 baht. Suradech had promised to repay the entire sum with a cooperative loan he expected to secure at the start of 2023. However, by January 2023, he had blocked her on social media and disappeared.

 

The woman, deeply hurt by the betrayal in this romance scam, has since reported the incident to the Udon Thani City Police in hopes of tracking down Suradech to face legal action or to at least recover the borrowed money. The loss of 50,000 baht is significant for her, and she wishes to warn others not to fall for similar deceptions—sweet-talking suitors who turn out to be fraudsters.

“I want my money back, the 50,000 baht. It’s not a small amount for me. I want this director to return it and not do this to anyone else—approaching to flirt only to deceive, borrow money, and then disappear into thin air.”

 

In related news, a 65 year old Thai woman lost 3 million baht in a romance scam after engaging in a month-long online conversation with a scammer she met on a Facebook dating group.

 

by Nattapong Westwood 

Photo courtesy of KhaoSod

 

Source: The Thaiger 2024-02-21

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

Get our Daily Newsletter - Click HERE to subscribe

 

[JackGats]

Most women are "romance swindlers". They steal a man's money with the help of the family courts. It's called "love". It is legal and teenage girls learn about it in the media and at school. The kind of money involved is much more than a puny 50k Baht.

 

On very rare occasions a man manages to steal from a woman. He then gets labelled a romance or marriage swindler and is liable for prosecution.

[hotchilli]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

He reassured her that as a director, he was good for the money and even gave her his ATM card, claiming his salary would be deposited there for her to withdraw and settle his debts. However, when the time came to repay, excuses piled up, and attempts to withdraw money from the ATM revealed a balance of only 85 baht. Suradech had promised to repay the entire sum with a cooperative loan he expected to secure at the start of 2023. However, by January 2023, he had blocked her on social media and disappeared.

Cheating scum-bag.

[OneMoreFarang]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

in a romance scam by a man who claimed to be the director of a well-known vocational college

Would there be any romans if he would not have claimed to be the director of a well-known vocational college or something like that?

 

The word romance doesn't make any sense like that. It's a scam that a guy pretends to be rich and influential, and obviously lots of women want that. If the women would look for love, then maybe they shouldn't look for rich and influential... 

[JackGats]

38 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Would there be any romans if he would not have claimed to be the director of a well-known vocational college or something like that?

 

The word romance doesn't make any sense like that. It's a scam that a guy pretends to be rich and influential, and obviously lots of women want that. If the women would look for love, then maybe they shouldn't look for rich and influential... 

Indeed. This woman was after the man's money. This time however the man was first to pull the trigger. 

[billd766]

2 hours ago, JackGats said:

Indeed. This woman was after the man's money. This time however the man was first to pull the trigger. 

What a load of codswallop.

 

If he is so honest, why has HE disappeared?

 

Honest and trustworthy men don't taper off a relationship and vanish?

 

Why did she go to the police and complain about being scammed, and not him?

 

Why did he gave the widow an ATM card saying that she could get her 50,000 baht when there was only 85 baht in the account?

 

Why did HE borrow money from her, and not she from him?

[thenewgoo]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

In related news, a 65 year old Thai woman lost 3 million baht in a romance scam after engaging in a month-long online conversation with a scammer she met on a Facebook dating group.

This sounds like a slightly more interesting story.

[proton]

 

Catfished has weekly stories about romance scams, most doing it are in Nigeria, some of the tales people fall for are amazing, and the amounts they send people they never meet