British Pensioner Returns Home After Bangkok Romance Scam

British Pensioner Returns Home After Bangkok Romance Scam Leaves Him Homeless

British retiree Simon Charles Hill, 68, has returned to the UK after an online romance scam drained his finances and eventually left him homeless in Bangkok. Hill, who had lived in Thailand for 11 years on a state pension of roughly £500 a month, began communicating on Facebook with a supposed American woman named Emily Smith who claimed she was waiting to receive a US$3 million inheritance. Over nearly five months, he reportedly made seven or eight payments to cover supposed fees, eventually exhausting his savings and becoming unable to pay for rent, electricity or food. The Bangkok Community Help Foundation found him weak and homeless on July 9 and provided accommodation while helping resolve travel documents and complications caused by his visa overstay. Hill is now staying at a homeless shelter in London while awaiting assisted living, with authorities told the suspected scammers may be based in Nigeria and that his money was transferred through a Thai mule account.