A 52-year-old Thai woman has been arrested at Hat Yai Airport, suspected of involvement in Thailand’s largest romance scam. The woman, identified as Orathai (surname withheld), was detained on Saturday after arriving from Malaysia. She is accused of helping a Nigerian-led syndicate carry out a romance scam that cost victims around 6.3 billion baht (approximately $86 million USD).
The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) stated that Orathai faces multiple charges, including membership in a criminal organization, involvement in transnational crime, identity fraud, and money laundering. The arrest follows an investigation into a scam in which the perpetrators used a fake LinkedIn profile of a U.S. Army doctor in Afghanistan to deceive the chief financial officer (CFO) of a multinational company’s Thai branch.
The scam led to the theft of over $86 million, with the CFO arrested and charged with theft. Authorities have implicated nearly 100 individuals, both Thai and Nigerian, in the operation, and are still pursuing additional suspects.
Orathai reportedly confessed to her involvement when confronted by authorities, explaining that her Nigerian partner had asked her to open bank accounts in Thailand on his behalf. She believed the accounts were for legitimate business purposes since her partner, a foreign national, couldn’t open them himself. However, investigators uncovered financial links between her accounts and fraudulent fund transfers, leading to her arrest.
According to Orathai, she met her partner in Malaysia in 2017 while working at a massage shop. After two years of living together, during which he covered all her expenses, he allegedly convinced her to open the accounts for him. She claimed he paid her 6,500 baht per account. Only later did she realize that the accounts were being used to receive money from scam victims.
Her arrest came after authorities received a tip that she was returning to Thailand to visit her child.
