A 52-year-old Thai woman suspected of involvement in Thailand’s biggest romance scam has been arrested at Hat Yai Airport.
According to the Bangkok post on Sunday, the Central Investigation Bureau revealed that the woman, identified as Orathai, 52 (surname withheld), was detained upon arrival from Malaysia on Saturday. She was wanted on an arrest warrant for her alleged role in aiding a Nigerian-led romance scam syndicate.
Orathai faces multiple charges, including being a member of a secret society, involvement in a criminal organization, participation in transnational crime, identity fraud, and money laundering. Her alleged connection to the 2022 scam led to the issuance of the warrant.
The case considered Thailand’s most expensive romance scam, involved a transnational gang that used a fake LinkedIn profile of a U.S. Army doctor in Afghanistan to deceive the chief financial officer of a multinational company’s Thai branch. The scammers managed to siphon 6.3 billion baht (approximately USD 86 million) from the company.
The Thai CFO was arrested and charged with theft, while nearly 100 individuals, both Thai and Nigerian nationals, have been implicated. Authorities continue their efforts to apprehend the remaining suspects.
According to the CIB, Orathai admitted to being the person named in the warrant when confronted by officers. She claimed that her Nigerian partner had asked her to open bank accounts in Thailand on his behalf, as he was unable to do so due to his foreign nationality. She believed the accounts were meant for business purposes.
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Orathai stated that she opened multiple bank accounts, which her partner then managed for deposits and withdrawals. However, investigators found financial links between her accounts and fraudulent fund transfers, leading to her arrest.
Orathai reportedly met her Nigerian 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 bank accounts for him.
“After living with him for two years, with him paying all the expenses so that I didn’t have to work, he asked me to open bank accounts for him as he wanted to run a business in Thailand,” she said.
“He paid me 6,500 baht per account. I only knew later that my bank accounts had been used to receive money from people who had been defrauded.”
Her arrest followed a police tip-off that she was returning to Thailand to visit her child.
