Four Malaysian men are under arrest by Thai police after being accused of duping a local resort owner into thinking they were “rich investors” looking to buy her property in Chiang Mai.
The 56-year-old woman has found herself millions of Baht poorer after getting tricked into gambling with the men. She subsequently lost a large sum, and dug herself 14 million Baht (RM1.75 million/US$445 million) into the hole with the con artists.
The four men, aged between 49 and 74-year-old (wah lau wei uncle), pretended to be wealthy would-be investors who were interested in buying the woman’s 12 million Baht resort (RM1.5 million/US$382,000) in Chiang Mai.
Going even went as far as arranging multiple meetings with the woman under the guise of negotiations, the quartet visited the property in early January 2018.
Meeting in a VIP room of a Bangkok hotel, the woman alleges that the men spiked her drink and then convinced her into gambling with them, and in the process lost money, while also owning them money.
Well, this sounds like QUITE the scam, gentlemen. Nothing like stealing money, while concurrently making your victim think she owes you even more.
The Royal Thai Police report that the four men claimed to be wealthy palm oil industrialists, and were in possession of US$1 million when they were arrested. They claimed that the cash was to invest locally in the country.
A day after losing her proverbial shirt gambling, the woman realized that the men had duped her, and filed a police report. The men were arrested yesterday at a local hotel, where officers found large sums of real and counterfeit cash in Malaysian, Thai and US currencies.
Royal Thai Police are saying that the men were part of an extensive crime syndicate that targeted Thais, using the modus operandi of wanting to buy property, but instead cajoling the seller into gambling away their cash.
While a charge has yet to be given, authorities confirm that the men will be blacklisted from entering the country in the future.
In recent times, the proliferation of Malaysians masterminding call center scams out of Thailand have hit the headlines, with Thai prisons teeming with con artists from south of the border.
Authorities from both sides have urged cooperation to track down suspects.
