A woman who created a fake Facebook account in the name of a senior police inspector and scammed almost half a million baht from the cop's contacts has been arrested -- by the real police officer whose identity she stole.

Pol Maj Kanjira Norasan, 42, on Sunday arrested Natthaya Khomaram, 25, in Saraburi.

Found with the suspect were a mobile phone and 11 bank books.

According to police, Ms Natthaya set up a Facebook account appearing to belong to Pol Maj Kanjira and sent Facebook messages to her friends, begging for help.

She told them she had financial problems and needed to borrow money, asking them to transfer funds to bank accounts opened by people she had paid to do so. After the victims transferred the money – totallling about 400,000 baht – they were unable to contact her again.

Police said the suspect confessed and told them she was unaware the woman whose identity she stole was a police officer. After discovering her mistake, she said, she tried to return money to victims.

When she realised police were looking for her, she fled her home province of Nakhon Ratchasima for Saraburi.

Meanwhile, Pol Maj Kanjira learned from her friends that a fake Facebook account had been created in her name and used to defraud them.

The officer brought the victims to file their complaints at the Din Daeng police station in Bangkok and then took over the investigation herself.

She traced the suspect through financial transactions and Facebook records.