BANGKOK: A 52-year-old Thai woman was arrested at Hat Yai airport for allegedly aiding a Nigerian romance scam gang.
Her bank accounts were used to receive 6.223 billion baht (US$182 million) from a victim deceived into stealing from her company.
The suspect was arrested at Hat Yai International Airport on Saturday (Feb 1) on charges of aiding and laundering money for a Nigerian gang involved in romance scams, police said.
Police reported that the Thai woman, whose name was given only as Orathai, was arrested at 3.25pm by immigration officers upon her arrival from Malaysia.
She was put on a wanted list following an arrest warrant issued on May 7, 2020, on charges of being an accomplice to a transnational criminal gang, money laundering and aiding an unlawful operation.
Police learnt that Orathai fled to Malaysia for work after the arrest warrant was issued, prompting immigration authorities to monitor her return.
She told police that she was planning to return to Thailand to visit her children.
According to police, Orathai’s bank accounts were used to receive money from a romance scam victim.
The victim was identified only as Chamanan, a former financial manager at a company.
Police said a member of the Nigerian romance scam gang approached Chamanan, posing as an American soldier in Afghanistan.
After Chamanan fell in love, she was deceived into stealing 6.223 billion baht from her company’s account and transferring the money to Orathai’s accounts.
Orathai claimed that she was also deceived into unknowingly opening bank accounts for the gang.
She stated that she had met an Algerian man while working at a massage shop in Malaysia in 2017. The man, who was Nigerian, told her he wanted to be her boyfriend and take care of her.
She said he convinced her to open bank accounts for him, claiming he needed them for his financial business but was unable to open them himself.
She added that she was paid 6,500 baht for each account she allowed him to use. She claimed that the Nigerian had full access to withdraw or transfer money from her accounts. - The Nation/ANN
