sunholidaysun1 Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 A Thai lady friend of mine has recently joined a dating website in hope of meeting a husband to be . She had been talking online to an English man (an English speaking farang ) for several weeks and a good friendship was forming. He promised her the world and said he was coming here to marry her . She was over the moon . She is not a young woman and not a bar girl out to rip anyone off , she is genuinly looking for a man to be with as she is in her mid 40's . with no kids. He said he wanted to send to her some gifts and even though she said it wasnt needed , he insisted as a token of his love for her and his sincerity . He said he wanted to buy her a laptop and a few other things like a nice phone and he wanted to send her a gold necklace as well . About 2 weeks after the conversation with her possible husband to be , she recieved a phone call from Customs House in Bangkok , stating that a parcel had arrived from England with a laptop , mobile phone , a gold necklace and a few other bits and bobs and that they were informing her that due to importing the goods to Thailand she must pay 30,000 bht in import tax. She was a little bit shocked at getting this news and was obliged to pay the money asked by Customs in Bangkok , they said that once the money had been paid they would express delivery of the package to her. They told her to pay the money into the account number they would give her. She recieved via a text message the bank details , then borrowed the money from family and paid the 30,000 into the bank as requested. She then called them back to tell them she had paid the money . The customs man was Thai and all the information given to her seemed genuine . He then told her that the package would be dispatched that day and should be with her within 5 days .(Thai post isnt great as we know) One week later the package still hadnt arrived, so she called the number back again to tell the customs man that she hadnt recieved the package , the number was no longer in use. She managed to find the real phone number for the Customs import office in Bangkok and called them . She explained everything to them and they had no idea what she was talking about . There was no record of any package ever being sent . They advised her to go to her bank . The bank said the money had been transfered as requested and since then the account that the money was sent to had been closed . She lost 30,000 bht , small money for many but for her it was alot and now has to repay family that she borrowed from . If these people are doing this to many then 30,000 x 100 people = 3m bht . Obviously larger amounts of money could be asked for by fake customs men but small amounts dont raise suspicions and the chances are , practically all will pay. Obviously an English speaking farang is working with a Thai unless he is 100% fluent in the local language as to not sound like a foreigner speaking Thai but I would think several people are involved . The chances are that a team of con men are operating here for a few weeks and can rake in millions of baht in a very short amount of time . Maybe worth mentioning to your wives / girlfriends so they can pass the message to their friends just incase it happens to someone you or they know and can prevent it happening again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daewoo Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 That's horrible - most of these scams prey upon people being greedy/dishonest... wanting to sell something for much more than it is worth, or willing to do something dishonest for reward... The romance scams just prey upon people looking for someone to make them happy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJCM Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 I think this would be better of in the General Forum as it could serve as a warning for others !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunholidaysun1 Posted June 7, 2012 Author Share Posted June 7, 2012 I think this would be better of in the General Forum as it could serve as a warning for others !! My friend lives in Mae Chan , hense putting the thread in the CR Forum but I am happy for it to go global . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Will move to General. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokie36 Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Utterly despicable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
orchis Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Greed made her lose it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwinclapham Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 I feel very sad for this friend of yours OP. What a despicable scam! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuddhistVirus Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Greed made her lose it. Or hope for a better and fulfilling life... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExpatJ Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Easily solved- just report it to the bank and police- the police will then get the ID details of the person who opened/closed the account. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skybluestu Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Easily solved- just report it to the bank and police- the police will then get the ID details of the person who opened/closed the account. Hopefully she's done that already, maybe the OP can confirm? If not then a couple of fairly high ranking Mae Chan police officers live in the same village as I do, PM me with your friends number and I can ask them to call her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robblok Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 I remember reading her on Thaivisa about something similar. So she is not the first. I hate scammers Thai or farang, in this case probably a farang working with a Thai. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaidDown Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Agree that its a despicable scam. If she did not solicit the gifts, and there's no indication she did, then I do not go with the "greed made her lose it" statement. For me the she received a phone call from Customs House is the alarm bell. How did they know her number ? Also, in my experience, if receiving items from overseas through ThaiPost that require duty to be paid a note is put in the letterbox saying that a parcel is available at the local post office. However, can easily see how she got caught out by this scam. As said job for the police/bank, hope they catch the xxxxs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildorchid Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Unfortunaly this is not a new scam, also there is the scam that a phone call is made to a person and say's that they have a credit card bill and will be taken too court if the bill is not payed to the bank NOW!!!, the thing is it is ez to beat, just forward 30 baht too the bank nuber provided and inform police before doing so and they can pepire and cathch the scamer. just another of many scams out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prefabs Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Wasn't a Nigerian man caught last week in Khon Kaen doing something similar? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kilgore Trout Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Terrible. I know many Australian pensioners (mostly old women) have been conned out of much more than that (entire life savings) by groups working openly in Thailand and calling these people on the telephone with investment opportunities etc. Sad, isn't it? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenSnapper Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Wasn't a Nigerian man caught last week in Khon Kaen doing something similar? Yes, for some years it is a common Nigerian scam. They target not so wealthy Thai women and are rather successful even if the sums stolen are not so high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rsquared Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Absolute low-lifes, scum of the earth......makes me sick that they are part of the human race. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinfoilhat Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Greed made her lose it. from this type of scam, to the nigerian email, to the boiler room. greed always makes them do it. but to say it is purley greed is to over simplify. hope plays a big part too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCFC Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 A friend of mine alerted me to this scam a couple of years ago. When I checked it out I found the villians had even created a website with some tracking documents to make it look as though the goods had passed through various seaports and the goods were laid up at Thai customs. It looked very professional, with the victims name on the documents and all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussiebebe Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 I'd like to pass on my sympathies to the victim, I hope she's okay, that's such a terrible scam. I tend to think of myself as being savvy but that's a new one by me, thanks to the OP for helping to raise general awareness of this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattayadingo Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 A lot of money for a Thai to lose. And I do feel for her. That is 10 months wage for some. I also do not agree with the 'too greedy' idea. She did not solicit money or goods, they were offered and that is very different. I also hope she is using the law to try and gt details of these people though it may well be they used fake ID's. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenSnapper Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 A lot of money for a Thai to lose. And I do feel for her. That is 10 months wage for some. I also do not agree with the 'too greedy' idea. She did not solicit money or goods, they were offered and that is very different. I also hope she is using the law to try and gt details of these people though it may well be they used fake ID's. I have seen some of those scam emails. Originated in Lagos/Nigeria, what you can see from the mail header. The story is always about a good looking, middle age business man from "England" who wants to marry a Thai woman. They find their victims in Facebook and other similar media. Then after some time. it ends with a package of presents where the girl has to pay "tax". Often the sums demanded are just around 5000 - 10000 Baht, which even poor girls can afford. But it is not only the money. They are tricking them, often over months, with a fake love story and the girl is in the 7th heaven. Then they are not only losing the money, but also a "lover" from recent months. And even then they are not aware, that their "handsome lover from London" was actually sitting in a run down internet cafe in Nigeria. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamescollister Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Strange enough, wife's friend from Uni called her last week, a school teacher early 30s, never married, no kids etc. She had joined one of these dating sites and low and behold a very handsome English guy started up an internet romance, He was perfect, all the goodies, not old, company director the lot. She contacted the wife, knowing I was ex old bill once, asking is it on the up and up. Did a few internet checks on the name, company etc. Total load of crap, no such guy no such company. Unfortunately Thais are more gullible to scams on the net then westerners as it is all much newer to them. Jim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phuturatica Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Horrible scam however who the hell would hand over 30,000 baht for some gifts a stranger off the internet had spent?! I have money to spend and 30,000 is not such a burn on my bank balance but even I wouldn't fall for that or do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norrona Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Horrible scam however who the hell would hand over 30,000 baht for some gifts a stranger off the internet had spent?! I have money to spend and 30,000 is not such a burn on my bank balance but even I wouldn't fall for that or do that. you probably got a better education/understanding of the world than this lady...with respect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tartempion Posted June 7, 2012 Share Posted June 7, 2012 Gullible combined with Greed, works all the time 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lopburi3 Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 Several posts removed - forum can not be used for solicitation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theblether Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 The best thing to do is to share this story with your Thai friends, then ask them to share it on Facebook. If it goes viral then all the better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pattayadingo Posted June 8, 2012 Share Posted June 8, 2012 (edited) A lot of money for a Thai to lose. And I do feel for her. That is 10 months wage for some. I also do not agree with the 'too greedy' idea. She did not solicit money or goods, they were offered and that is very different. I also hope she is using the law to try and gt details of these people though it may well be they used fake ID's. I have seen some of those scam emails. Originated in Lagos/Nigeria, what you can see from the mail header. The story is always about a good looking, middle age business man from "England" who wants to marry a Thai woman. They find their victims in Facebook and other similar media. Then after some time. it ends with a package of presents where the girl has to pay "tax". Often the sums demanded are just around 5000 - 10000 Baht, which even poor girls can afford. But it is not only the money. They are tricking them, often over months, with a fake love story and the girl is in the 7th heaven. Then they are not only losing the money, but also a "lover" from recent months. And even then they are not aware, that their "handsome lover from London" was actually sitting in a run down internet cafe in Nigeria. cannot delete the post so deleted the text. my mistake in reading your reply incorrectly. Edited June 8, 2012 by pattayadingo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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