Thai woman loses 100,000 baht in Korean AI romance scam

A single Thai woman aged almost 60 is believed to have lost almost 100,000 baht after falling for an alleged online romance scam involving a Korean man whose images may have been created or altered using AI.

The scam was stopped before a further transfer of 18,000 baht when the man claimed he was being held by Thai Immigration and needed money to resolve the problem.

The case was shared on Facebook on 23 August 2026 by Eamorn Dechthawisut, owner of the Luk Sao Nai Dam wholesale shop, in Uthai Thani Province. She said the woman is a close acquaintance who had repeatedly brought cash to the shop for bank transfers.

Large transfers prompted concern

According to Eamorn, the woman would not initially say who was receiving the money or where she had obtained the substantial sums, telling her: "You don't need to know."

During the previous week, she asked Eamorn to transfer 18,000 baht, saying it was for her niece. She had already made two or three transfers of between 30,000 to 40,000 baht each.

Eamorn estimated the overall losses at close to 100,000 baht and began to suspect that her friend was being targeted by fraudsters.

After initially refusing to show her phone, the woman eventually allowed Eamorn to read the chat messages. The online contact used photographs of a handsome man, believed to be Korean, and repeatedly called her "darling" while making romantic promises.

Eamorn suspected the images had been generated or manipulated by AI. The woman, however, remained convinced the man was genuine and believed he would travel to Thailand so they could live together.

Immigration story raised alarm

The latest request for money was based on a claim that the Korean man had been detained at an Immigration office. He allegedly said he needed urgent financial help and would repay all the money later.

Rather than make the transfer, Eamorn offered to take a van to collect him and deliver the money directly to the location. The chat contact became angry, replying in effect: "Why are you making this difficult? Who is interfering? Just transfer the money."

Eamorn also said the writing style and tone changed during the exchange. Another person then claimed to be the man's supervisor.

She showed the woman examples of AI-generated images depicting people in handcuffs, under arrest and entering prison, explaining that pictures cannot be treated as proof that someone has been detained.

Eamorn said she shared the case to warn social media users, particularly older people and those living alone, not to send money to strangers who quickly build an online romantic relationship.

Picture courtesy of Daily News

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24 August 2026

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