Acting on warrants issued by a Chiang Mai court, police in Bangkok have arrested three Nigerian men and one Thai woman who were accused of running an online fraud scheme out of the Bang Kapi area of Bangkok.
The police claim the quartet had stolen a combined eight million baht from some 18 different women.
The (somewhat ingenious) scam that the group was perpetrating involved having the three Nigerian men pose as wealthy Americans or Europeans on online chat sites. Under these pseudonyms, they would begin flirtatious relationships with women, then claim to have sent these women expensive gifts.
The Thai member of their crew would then call the women and report that the gifts had been “withheld” at customs, and that the women would have to pay further customs duties in order to complete the shipment.
According to the Bangkok Post, Pol Lt Gen Panu Kerdlarppol, who led the investigation, said that the fraud ring had more than 70 members and that it was originally based out of Malaysia.
