Thai woman falls for "Randy" the handsome US Army general in million baht "Romance scam"

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Thai woman falls for "Randy" the handsome US Army general in million baht "Romance scam"


Image: Daily News

BANGKOK: -- A Thai businesswoman and hotel owner fell for a handsome black man who claimed to be a general in the US army called "Randy".

In an elaborate scam involving others the African man extorted nearly a million baht after chatting with the woman on Facebook and proposing marriage before she smelt a rat and informed police.

Immigration police announced the arrest of two African men Sunday while warrants were issued for other members of the gang that police say includes Thai women reported Daily News. Tens of millions of baht are thought to have been extorted over several years.

Arrested were Allo Chukwudi Paul, 26 from Nigeria and Patrick Banda, 29, from Zambia. Police took into evidence computers, phones and bankbooks.

Authorities were acting on a complaint from a 47 year old businesswoman and hotel owner who said she had been chatting to a man on Facebook who said he was called 'Randy Fredrickson'. After chatting for about three months the handsome Randy proposed marriage and said that he could help her expand her hotel business. She was then contacted by a person claiming to be a customs official who said that a bag containing a large amount of US dollars and other items had arrived. However, she would need to pay various fees for its release into her possession.

She fell for the scam and paid a total of 836,500 in three instalments before she was asked to pay 190,000 baht more. She started to have doubts as she had not seen any of the money or goods and didn't send the fourth instalment. Contact then stopped with her Facebook friend and she went to the police.

Police rounded up the Nigerian who they say was Randy the general at his rented room in Suan Luang, Samut Sakorn. Expanding the enquiry they also arrested the Zambian at an apartment in Bang Khae, Bangkok. He was posing as Fabian a handsome airline pilot.

The bankbooks showed transactions dating back years showing tens of millions of baht. Many Laotian women in particular are believed to have fallen victim of the gang. Arrest warrants for others have been issued.

Nathathorn Phrosunthorn of the Immigration Bureau warned Thai women chatting to foreigners on social media, especially Facebook. "These scammers will be good looking, claim to be wealthy businessmen or soldiers of high rank, pilots and oil industry engineers and the like. If you have never met someone be careful or you could fall for the 'Romance Scam'", he said.

Potential victims of the gang are urged to contact the immigration authorities on 1178.

Source: Daily News


-- 2016-06-06

[thaiduncankk]

Can anyone really have any sympathy for her ?

Edited June 6, 2016 by thaiduncankk

[rkidlad]

I have zero sympathy. It's just greed begetting greed.

[Rob13]

smelt?

[halloween]

Good looking? I suppose it depends on what you're looking for.

[ratcatcher]

I wonder if the Immigration police officer in the picture is communicating with the two Africans in English?

[colinneil]

Brain dead woman, a 26 year old would never be a general.

Greed on her part thinking ohh i can make big money here, he is a general, so he must be rich.

[halloween]

smelt?

Not fish or ore, just an English speaker from outside N.America.

[halloween]

I wonder if the Immigration police officer in the picture is communicating with the two Africans in English?

English is the official language of both countries, so quite possibly.

[thai3]

Can anyone really have any sympathy for her ?

Yes, almost same thing happened to my SIL, might have been the same scumbags. I warned her she would not get any money and not to send any no mattre what the story. The fb page they used was a joke though, a US army captain with no friends. Hope they get 20 years of hell.

Edited June 6, 2016 by thai3

[chainarong]

Just this morning I was contacted regarding a sum of 20 million as a beneficiary left in a Nigerian bank and would I send all my bank details, which I have done , however I am still waiting for the money a Mr Warren Buffett of NY was going to send me and a guy named Page from the Pentagon had a deal I couldn't refuse, one of the things I did notice wasn't the amount of money I was to receive, it was the terrible spelling, so In gratitude I downloaded a dictionary from Amazon with my bank details to all six thousand over the last decade........................................

[thaiduncankk]

Can anyone really have any sympathy for her ?

Yes, almost same thing happened to my SIL, might have been the same scumbags. I warned her she would not get any money and not to send any no mattre what the story. The fb page they used was a joke though, a US army captain with no friends. Hope they get 20 years of hell.

As you warned your SIL, how can you then offer your sympathy ?

[chainarong]

Good looking? I suppose it depends on what you're looking for.

i'm looking for a General to have a good ol heart to heart chat 2 , but not this particular one

Edited June 6, 2016 by chainarong

[puukao]

I'm sure Randy said he flew a BlackHawk, was a navy seal, team 6, and everything else is super confidential. not on internet because Obama made his super super secret.

i thought of being a 10-star general in the Army, in charge of the Seals and 101st division.

i got ambushed in Iran and attacked by 12,345 North Koreans.....i used the ring to rule all rings......then rescued by the CIA who dug a tunnel from America!!!! we left on super special flying carpets....

this isn't funny, but a little common sense can save you a lot of money.

[shirtless]

This is so old i cant believe these women fall for it , these guys are scamming the scammers.

[chainarong]

I'm sure Randy said he flew a BlackHawk, was a navy seal, team 6, and everything else is super confidential. not on internet because Obama made his super super secret.

i thought of being a 10-star general in the Army, in charge of the Seals and 101st division.

i got ambushed in Iran and attacked by 12,345 North Koreans.....i used the ring to rule all rings......then rescued by the CIA who dug a tunnel from America!!!! we left on super special flying carpets....

this isn't funny, but a little common sense can save you a lot of money.

So what < i'm a 5 > star

[Bender]

everyday, certainly dozens of foreigners are fleeced of their life savings by some greedy hooker, and nothing is done, nobody care.

But if you cheat a thai, the police will be hunting you.

[geriatrickid]

Can anyone really have any sympathy for her ?

Yes.

She is mentally deficient. I don't beliebve we should be laughing when people take advantage of people with low IQs.

What's nest, smiling when pervs have inter course with downs syndrome people?

[chainarong]

everyday, certainly dozens of foreigners are fleeced of their life savings by some greedy hooker, and nothing is done, nobody care.

But if you cheat a thai, the police will be hunting you.

That is entirely a different scam , and came to major prevalence with the goings on in Vietnam, the scam is one of the most successful and has been refined over the years and in most cases the farang brought it on himself, because he could have done the same in his country of origin, without coming to Thailand.

Edited June 6, 2016 by chainarong

[NCC1701A]

How did the police locate these guys?

I wonder if they traced their IP address?

How much money did the woman pay the police to do their job?

[MJCM]

How did the police locate these guys?

I wonder if they traced their IP address?

<snip>

Court order for Facebook logs and then contact provider.

[worgeordie]

Brain dead woman, a 26 year old would never be a general.

Greed on her part thinking ohh i can make big money here, he is a general, so he must be rich.

But he obviously did not use his own photo,name,or age,she also might of

made the mistake of thinking U.S Generals are as fabulously wealthy as

their Thai counterparts.,silly greedy woman ,these West Africans turning

the tables and conning Thais.

regards Worgeordie

[thaiduncankk]

Can anyone really have any sympathy for her ?

Yes.

She is mentally deficient. I don't beliebve we should be laughing when people take advantage of people with low IQs.

What's nest, smiling when pervs have inter course with downs syndrome people?

Businesswoman and hotel owner. Ask yourself a question.

[puck2]

Not yet 30 years old Nigerian/Zambian generals are as attractive/hunky to Thai ladies as is a 69 yeras old fat, violent and big-mouthed billionaire to the US electorate. They trust them re. him.

What's the difference concerning the IQ ???

[RawboneFunksta]

The police jumped on this pretty minor scam as a Thai Chinese woman perhaps with a bit of influence was involved. I'd like to see them act so quickly in other scams committed by Thais.

[halloween]

How did the police locate these guys?

I wonder if they traced their IP address?

How much money did the woman pay the police to do their job?

I'm guessing they contacted the bank where the receiving account was held, and the bank supplied their address.

[Bender]

everyday, certainly dozens of foreigners are fleeced of their life savings by some greedy hooker, and nothing is done, nobody care.

But if you cheat a thai, the police will be hunting you.

That is entirely a different scam , and came to major prevalence with the goings on in Vietnam, the scam is one of the most successful and has been refined over the years and in most cases the farang brought it on himself, because he could have done the same in his country of origin, without coming to Thailand.

same same but different. When a foreigner got scammed, its because of love. When a thai got scammed its because of greed....

But in both case they did give willingly the money....

And always, only the farang will be prosecuted....

[Strangebrew]

Well ladies I'm Donald Trump Have money up the wahzoo Hung like a horse want honest Thai lady to help invest my money, Only thing is I need help in shipping a couple trunk loads of cash. You pickup for me at customs before I arrive. I had to send COD cause forgot to take some cash out of trunk before custom seal was put on trunk. You pay fee to this Email address IGMFU.com and I will pay you back upon arrival ten times over. Hurry I want to meet you face to face and get Married quick. I will bring Key to trunk to pay you.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

No mention from our esteemed immigration leader of how these two Africans were managing to stay in the country while doing their scams over a period of years??

They certainly weren't here on retirement or business visas/extensions. Wonder if they'd been doing their required 90 day reports?

BTW, the second photo in the source Daily News article has the two Africans sitting at a table for the police press conference along with an Asian woman (probably Thai) with a face mask and cap. But no mention of her in the English translated TV version of the article. Can't tell if she's the alleged victim or an accomplice.

Edited June 6, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[NongKhaiKid]

I have zero sympathy. It's just greed begetting greed.

There used to be a television series about con artists, ' Hustle ', which when in a serious mode would include the saying ' You Can't Con an Honest Man ' !