Thai-British Beauty Queen Duped Out of 4M Baht, Suspect Arrested

[webfact]

Picture courtesy: MGR online

 

Thai authorities have arrested a 40-year-old woman believed to be part of a scam operation that duped Thai-British beauty queen Charlotte Austin out of 4 million Thai Baht. The suspect, known only as Parichat, was apprehended in Chaiyaphum province over the weekend.

 

Pol Lt Gen Trairong Phewphan, acting commissioner of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, detailed that Parichat was involved in a scam run by a group based in Cambodia. The suspect and her husband allegedly travelled illegally from Sa Kaeo province into Cambodia, where Parichat was coerced into opening a bank account for a Chinese-led scam operation.

 

Once in Cambodia, Parichat was taken to a building where the scam was being orchestrated. Here, she was paid a nominal fee of 3,500 Thai Baht to open a bank account, using her identity, for the gang. This building housed roughly 20 Thais, and within its walls were mock offices posing as legitimate Thai authorities.

Lt Gen Trairong revealed that the beauty queen’s funds were first transferred into Parichat's account, subsequently converted into digital currency, and then moved to an account linked to a Chinese suspect. The investigation continues as authorities work to dismantle the broader network involved.

 

This alarming scheme unraveled after Charlotte Austin, the 5th runner-up in Miss Grand Thailand 2022, was deceived by a call on December 7th. The caller posed as an official from Thailand's Department of Special Investigation, falsely implicating her in a money laundering case associated with Stark Corporation.

 

In a state of fear and confusion, Austin was instructed to transfer 4 million Baht under the pretence that this would absolve her from suspicion. She made a series of transactions totalling the amount but, as anticipated by the perpetrators, never saw her money returned.

 

Austin's ordeal has thrown a spotlight on the increasingly sophisticated methods employed by scammers and the cross-border challenges faced by law enforcement in tackling these crimes. The arrest of Parichat marks a significant step forward, but the ongoing investigation underscores the complexity of dismantling such operations and bringing all responsible parties to justice, reported Bangkok Post.

 

-- 2024-12-16

 

 

[bradiston]

All it does for me is to shine a spotlight on the increasing stupidity of the victims. At what point does an enormous red flag not get raised, causing you to figure something looks just a little sus? Illegal entry into Cambodia? Opening a mule account? Forcing you to transfer millions? Are these every day activities?

[kratiam]

Just now, bradiston said:

All it does for me is to shine a spotlight on the increasing stupidity of the victims. At what point does an enormous red flag not get raised, causing you to figure something looks just a little sus? Illegal entry into Cambodia? Opening a mule account? Forcing you to transfer millions? Are these every day activities?

Perfectly put.  Idiots!

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

Lt Gen Trairong revealed that the beauty queen’s funds were first transferred into Parichat's account, subsequently converted into digital currency, and then moved to an account linked to a Chinese suspect.

Damned Chinese... 

[Jack Hammer]

Maybe too much make up affected her brain for being so gullible. It always amazes me these “beauty queens” having millions of Baht. Prize money in these beauty contests is not great. How do they acquire such wealth?

[Oliver Holzerfilled]

"Austin worked as a freelance model in Phuket, supporting herself through tuition and employment as a waitress in tourist areas and restaurants."

🤔

[Geoffggi]

1 hour ago, bradiston said:

All it does for me is to shine a spotlight on the increasing stupidity of the victims. At what point does an enormous red flag not get raised, causing you to figure something looks just a little sus? Illegal entry into Cambodia? Opening a mule account? Forcing you to transfer millions? Are these every day activities?

Greed is a wonderful cloak to conceal all these con-artists 

[Rickman66]

1 hour ago, kratiam said:

Perfectly put.  Idiots!

Agreed beauty with no brains

[bfc1980]

These scammers are incredibly convincing. My half Thai, half English friend was almost caught out by the exact same scam. 

She called bs on it at the beginning but they had copies of her Thai passport and ID as well as knowledge of her Thai bank accounts. They knew where she worked and showed her an arrest warrant and court case documents with her name on it. These documents had the official stamp on them and when our workplace lawyers took them to a judge, he said they were absolutely legit until he noticed that the case number didn't make sense. 

They sent her to a clone website representing the courts where she was able to view the case against her. She even had a video call with the caller who was dressed in official police uniform and could see other "police officers" in the background. They were threatening her with arrest at work and that they would take away her kid. 

All of this caused a huge amount of stress and panic and in situations like this, you don't think clearly. 

 

So not all victims a greedy or stupid.

[TheFishman1]

Do you think this girl would’ve known when she’s being illegally entering Cambodia going to a warehouse and she’s thinking is legitimate when she got back to Thailand to open her account she should’ve went right to the police first anyways the liability of some of these people are just unbelievable TIT

[steven100]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

 but, as anticipated by the perpetrators, never saw her money returned.

 

 

sorry lovey !     your 4 mil is long gone ... 

I love it when Thais scam Thais,  makes my day worthwhile ... 

[quake]

She was up to no good to start with.

Who cares what happens to the money .

[gravity101]

22 minutes ago, quake said:

She was up to no good to start with.

Who cares what happens to the money .

Why was she?

[quake]

Oops

[quake]

28 minutes ago, gravity101 said:

Why was she?

 

Yes, looks like i read that wrong.

My bad.

[kiwikeith]

4 hours ago, bradiston said:

All it does for me is to shine a spotlight on the increasing stupidity of the victims. At what point does an enormous red flag not get raised, causing you to figure something looks just a little sus? Illegal entry into Cambodia? Opening a mule account? Forcing you to transfer millions? Are these every day activities?

Agree totally, this had scam written all over it in capitals

[ronster]

4 hours ago, Jack Hammer said:

Maybe too much make up affected her brain for being so gullible. It always amazes me these “beauty queens” having millions of Baht. Prize money in these beauty contests is not great. How do they acquire such wealth?

Mummy & daddy are usually well off and give their little princess anything she wants .

Including the millions of baht for surgery to make them up to model standards ! 😄

[Dr B]

There are 15 posts above this, including 3 from "quake" who got it wrong but then admitted it. 9 of the remainder could not even be bothered to read the OP properly before hitting the keyboards with their bile and venom. Pathetic and disgusting at the same time. There is nothing that says that Charlotte Austin went to Cambodia. That was Parichat who was paid to set up a Thai bank account. The group then scammed money from Austin into the Thai bank account, quite possibly using the same or similar routine as that described by "bfc180". Faced with documents that nearly fooled a judge, video calls that appeared to be from an official police officer and threats of prison, what would you superintelligent tough guys do?

If you cannot be bothered to read, that's fine, just don't start typing.

[gravity101]

4 minutes ago, Dr B said:

There are 15 posts above this, including 3 from "quake" who got it wrong but then admitted it. 9 of the remainder could not even be bothered to read the OP properly before hitting the keyboards with their bile and venom. Pathetic and disgusting at the same time. There is nothing that says that Charlotte Austin went to Cambodia. That was Parichat who was paid to set up a Thai bank account. The group then scammed money from Austin into the Thai bank account, quite possibly using the same or similar routine as that described by "bfc180". Faced with documents that nearly fooled a judge, video calls that appeared to be from an official police officer and threats of prison, what would you superintelligent tough guys do?

If you cannot be bothered to read, that's fine, just don't start typing.

Well said. You missed out the user who implied she was on the game also.

[mran66]

Beauty queen does not seem to be intelligence queen! 

[Classic Ray]

Firstly, if she had done nothing wrong, why did she think she was under suspicion?

 

Secondly, why didn’t she immediately contact a lawyer? They would have been able to get the details of any legitimate accusation and represent her in her defence.

 

Did she have a guilty conscience about the Stark Corporation?

[Grumpy one]

Does she use makeup with lead added as was done in the past, causing her insanity

Or was she simply born beautiful with a whistling noise coming from ears 

[john donson]

if you know you did nothing wrong, why send any money in the first place?

[LudwigK]

 

Changing the battery of the brain pacemaker is recommended

[CallumWK]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

The caller posed as an official from Thailand's Department of Special Investigation, falsely implicating her in a money laundering case associated with Stark Corporation.

 

In a state of fear and confusion, Austin was instructed to transfer 4 million Baht under the pretence that this would absolve her from suspicion. She made a series of transactions totalling the amount but, as anticipated by the perpetrators, never saw her money returned.

 

Only those that have something to hide would fall for this.

So tell us Miss beauty queen, what do you have to hide?

[GroveHillWanderer]

6 hours ago, bradiston said:

All it does for me is to shine a spotlight on the increasing stupidity of the victims. At what point does an enormous red flag not get raised, causing you to figure something looks just a little sus? Illegal entry into Cambodia? Opening a mule account? Forcing you to transfer millions? Are these every day activities?

The victim here did not illegally enter Cambodia, nor did she open a mule account. Those were actions undertaken by the suspect, Parichat.

 

The victim did transfer millions into the suspect's account however, but as @bfc1980has pointed out, some of these scams are very sophisticated and convincing, using documents almost good enough to fool a judge, fake but official-seeming websites and video calls with people wearing police uniforms, appearing to be in a police station.

[kingstonkid]

6 hours ago, bradiston said:

All it does for me is to shine a spotlight on the increasing stupidity of the victims. At what point does an enormous red flag not get raised, causing you to figure something looks just a little sus? Illegal entry into Cambodia? Opening a mule account? Forcing you to transfer millions? Are these every day activities?

It also proves that you alyou need is good looks and you can place in a beauty scheme.  Then you get promoted to being a bargirl after your time expires.

 

My question is how does a girl working in a bar or restaurnt get 4 milion baht.

 

I would score her looks as average

 

[impulse]

12 minutes ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

The victim did transfer millions into the suspect's account however, but as @bfc1980has pointed out, some of these scams are very sophisticated and convincing, using documents almost good enough to fool a judge, fake but official-seeming websites and video calls with people wearing police uniforms, appearing to be in a police station.

 

And, being Thailand, it wouldn't surprise me if the actors were actually police, moonlighting.  It's not as if they've never been implicated in extortion schemes.

 

 

[mran66]

28 minutes ago, CallumWK said:

So tell us Miss beauty queen, what do you have to hide?

 

She probably want to hide details about the methods she used to get hold of the Beauty Queen title. Wonder if the real truth is the scammers threatened with that. 

[AlwaysThere]

7 hours ago, bradiston said:

All it does for me is to shine a spotlight on the increasing stupidity of the victims. At what point does an enormous red flag not get raised, causing you to figure something looks just a little sus? Illegal entry into Cambodia? Opening a mule account? Forcing you to transfer millions? Are these every day activities?

 

Hard to believe that nineteen people agreed with your ridiculous summary, mixing up one of the perpetrators with the victim.