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A Thai woman linked to Thailand’s largest-ever romance scam has been arrested at Hat Yai International Airport, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) announced on Sunday.
Authorities apprehended 52-year-old Orathai (surname withheld) at the airport’s arrival terminal on Saturday after she arrived from Malaysia. She was wanted on charges including membership in a secret society, involvement in a transnational crime organization, identity fraud, and money laundering.
The scam, considered Thailand’s costliest, involved a transnational gang that used a fake LinkedIn profile of a U.S. army doctor stationed in Afghanistan to deceive the chief financial officer (CFO) of a multinational company's Thailand branch. The fraudulent scheme resulted in the theft of 6.3 billion baht (approximately $186 million) from the company.
Following the scam’s discovery in 2022, Thai authorities arrested the CFO and charged her with multiple offenses, including theft. Arrest warrants were issued for nearly 100 individuals, including Thai and Nigerian nationals, as part of an ongoing crackdown on the network.
According to the CIB, Orathai admitted to being the individual named in the arrest warrant. She claimed that her Nigerian partner had asked her to open bank accounts in Thailand, explaining that he was unable to do so due to his foreign nationality. He allegedly needed the accounts to start a business in the country.
Investigators traced financial transactions from Orathai’s accounts to companies involved in the fraudulent fund transfers, leading to her arrest. She had moved to Malaysia in 2017 to work at a massage shop, where she met her Nigerian partner. After living together for two years, he convinced her to open multiple bank accounts for him, offering 6,500 baht per account.
“I didn’t have to work because he covered all my expenses. Later, I found out my accounts were being used to receive money from defrauded victims,” Orathai reportedly told authorities.
The arrest was made after police received a tip-off that she would return to Thailand to visit her child. Efforts to track down and arrest the remaining suspects involved in the multi-billion baht scam are still ongoing.
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