Alleged Nigerian romance scam gang leader nabbed for duping Thai women to wire over Bt10m

Police have arrested a Nigerian man who allegedly lured a Thai woman looking for love from a handsome western man to wire him Bt130,000 in late 2013. All in all, police said the man, who is the alleged leader of the so-call romance scam ring, has deceived more than 30 Thai women who wired his gang over Bt10 million during the past five years.

Ifeanyi George Okoronkwo, alias OJ, was arrested at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport on Wednesday while he was trying to flee the kingdom. His arrest was announced by Technology Crime Suppression Division chief Pol Maj Gen Siripong Timula on Friday.

Siripong said OJ posted a handsome western man photo on a dating website and pretended to be a Belgium doctor, called Mark Hall. He chatted with the Thai woman, whose name was withheld, for a while and promised her that he would fly to Thailand to marry her. He claimed he had mailed valuable gifts to her but the package could not clear the customs office upon arrival in Thailand. He asked the victim to wire money to his Thai helper for expense for the customs clearing.

The Thai woman transferred money to an account several times, totaling Bt130,000, but she still did not receive the “valuable gifts”. She eventually filed a complaint with the Technology Crime Suppression Division.

The division investigated and arrested Chattraporn Juthaisong along with another Nigerian man. Chattraporn was the one who withdrew the money from the bank account. Chattraporn implicated OJ, saying he hired her to open the bank account and send him the money after the victims wired it in.

Siripong alleged OJ was the leader of the Nigeria 419 romance scam gang that has been preying on Thai women looking for love with western men. OJ’s gang has allegedly deceived more than 30 Thai women who lost over Bt10 million during the past five years, Siripong added.

Don't know just how they fall for this. I can't tell you how many internet and skype messages ive had over the years with them cliaming to give me multi million dollars from their oil companies, Yeah right just give me a second to wire you some of my cash first to get this huge ammount cleared at the courts !!!

Sadly, there is always someone vulnerable enough to fall for it.

My favourite is when I get an e-mail from the widow of an Ambassador who has left 10 million dollars in a bank. She only needs a thousand dollars for the paperwork, and i get half!

Where do I sign!

what crime dod he actually do?If somebody is so stupid and sends money to a stranger because he he says so then whats the crime?

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In some places they call that statistics or research

Then Nailed him Very good

and they thought they would never get caught

Rot in jail

Nobody sends me cash emails.................

and how many Billions of THB were located in similar way by Thai woman

and forced many foreigners to bankrupcy, even to to suicide ??

who will court them ? their partner - RTP ??

Nobody sends me cash emails.................

Transam, I need your help!!!

I am a 25 year old Brazilian Lady who has inherited a multi million Dollar Yacht. Unfortunately, i know nothing about boats and wish to sell it, alas, I need 1,000 dollars for the agents fees. if you wire me this money I will split the sale with you 50/50. Honest Injun,

what crime dod he actually do?If somebody is so stupid and sends money to a stranger because he he says so then whats the crime?

I believe it is called obtaining money by deception.

Nigerian people living on Sukhamvit Rd are such nice people 555+++

last i checked the only way nigerians could get a visa for thailand was through the thai embassy for nigeria. not cheap for airfares there and back all the time. or is the immigration dept taking its cut of the proceeds too?

Edited February 7, 201511 yr by rabid old goat

what crime dod he actually do?If somebody is so stupid and sends money to a stranger because he he says so then whats the crime?

I believe it is called obtaining money by deception.

I thought that if "obtaining money by deception" is illegal, there would not be enough bar workers left to open many bars in Thailand. Then where would take the mom's prize water buffalo to the vets? Not to mention the many karaoke bar owners and some police officers might be behind bars too.

I have a friend of mine who operates http://soulfuly.com and he related that Nigerian scammers are everywhere in the online dating industry and it costs vast sums in detection software plus time manually reviewing registrations.

Now that the RTP have been so successful in capturing a Nigerian I wonder if they'll show the same effort for all the foreigners who have been fleeced by Thai ladies and their often counterpart Thai husbands ... wishful thinking I suppose.

So is it against the law if a Thai women scams an old farang who is now homeless out of money?

Or is it only if a Nigerian and Thai women is involved?

Total hypocrisy.

Thai women duping foreigners is acceptable & committed on an industrial scale.

Pot, kettle, when I see some Thais being prosecuted for the same offence then I will celebrate !!!

When people are naive that is no reason to rob them. Hang the low life bastards.

Somehow I feel that the losses incurred by these ladies will be passed along, with extreme prejudice, to some unsuspecting farangs.

Better yet, perhaps the money was originally ill-gotten gains?

Live by the Sword...die by the Sword...

what crime dod he actually do?If somebody is so stupid and sends money to a stranger because he he says so then whats the crime?

It's called fraud.

Jeez. These Nigerians are so "shifty".

Nobody sends me cash emails.................

Transam, I need your help!!!

I am a 25 year old Brazilian Lady who has inherited a multi million Dollar Yacht. Unfortunately, i know nothing about boats and wish to sell it, alas, I need 1,000 dollars for the agents fees. if you wire me this money I will split the sale with you 50/50. Honest Injun,

I am at my first cash request from a ...........I am gasted and flabered...........Send me your bank details....................

what crime dod he actually do?If somebody is so stupid and sends money to a stranger because he he says so then whats the crime?

Well it's called fraud (obtaining money under false pretences) but I've never seen any Thai women arrested for doing this, and as we all know it is rife in this country.

When will we see the headline....

"Thai woman arrested for scamming foreigner out of XX million baht?"

when hell freezes over?

What about all the water buffaloes that fall from the stairs here in Thailand ???

On average I receive about 3-4 emails per month asking for 100.000 THB because that stupid water buffalo tried to walk the stairs and needs a new hip...

Edited February 7, 201511 yr by FredNL

and how many Billions of THB were located in similar way by Thai woman

and forced many foreigners to bankrupcy, even to to suicide ??

who will court them ? their partner - RTP ??

It's only a crime if a foreigner does it to a Thai?

T

I would assume by law a thai would be entiteled to the same investigation/arrest had he been scamming a foreigner.

Nevertheless, what would happen is the RTP laughing their asses off while thinking "som nam na, stupid farang".

I assume the money they retrieve from him will go in to a fund to help out all the farongs Thai women have ripped off? LOL

I seriously doubt this story. Thai women would not fall for such a scam as they are the epitome of scammers when it comes to love. 1000 baht says not one of em is a Thai chic.

On the other hand if I am wrong any chance of getting a few phone numbers? LOL

Btw, for anyone who has been ripped off by a Thai woman I have a company that guarantees retrieving at least 50% of you money back. Simply deposit 10000 baht in to my bank account at Bangkok Bank and we can get started. Send me a personal email for my acct number.

Edited February 7, 201511 yr by SCARLETIBIS1

what crime dod he actually do?If somebody is so stupid and sends money to a stranger because he he says so then whats the crime?

Did your mummy not tell you that it's wrong to tell lies? OK - acquiring money by deception - will that do?