Nigerian, 13 others detained for romance scam in Thailand

The Royal Thai Police have detained 13 native Thais and Ezeneche Uzochukwu Jerome, 45 years old Nigerian, for their roles in a romance scam syndicate that defrauded victims out of more than 800 million baht.

The head of the Crime Suppression Division, Pol Maj Gen Montree Theskhan, reportedly revealed on Friday that his division’s team had conducted raids at 14 different sites on Thursday, according to Bangkok Post, after a series of coordinated police operations in seven provinces.

Victims have claimed that the con artists made contact with them by creating fictitious profiles of foreign women on social media sites.

The con artists claimed to be American women who were serving as soldiers in Syria. They would express a desire to travel to Thailand to see the victims after gaining their trust.

However, they would let the victim know ahead of time that they had sent gifts or a few packages into Bangkok via the airports.

The victims would then be coerced into paying taxes or other necessary fees in advance on their behalf, with the promise that they would be reimbursed when they met.

The victims were then contacted by a group of Thai scammers posing as airport authorities who demanded payment for the purported parcel-receiving procedure.

The con artist would vanish and close all communication channels with the victims after getting the desired sum.

The police continued their investigation until they found Jerome, the gang leader. Jerome was previously accused of running a love scam in 2018, but he was able to resume the illegal activity.