Police have busted a so-called romance scam which defrauded Thai women, who fell in love with the perpetrators, of millions of baht.
The operation to bust the network, code-named "Black Eagle", was launched by the Technology Crime Suppression Division (TCSD) and the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) last week.
The bust, which caught 25 Africans and one Thai, was set in motion by CIB chief Thitirat Nonghanpitak after Thai women complained of falling victim to the transnational crime gang.
Operation Black Eagle was launched after occasional arrests of Nigerian con men like this one in May failed to stop the online romance cheating that has cost duped Thai women millions of baht. (Photo by Chanat Katanyu)
Pol Lt Col Chakrit Seribut, an officer involved in the operation, said members of the crime ring used fake names to contact women via dating websites, claiming they were soldiers, doctors or pilots and using a Caucasian man's photo in their profiles to impress the potential victims. Their main targets were women aged between 40 and 60.
The scammers would claim they loved the victims and wanted to travel to Thailand to marry them and settle down. They would also say they wanted to send expensive gifts to their victims.
Thais who colluded with the gang, posing as bogus shipping agents, would contact the women, saying a shipment of gifts had arrived in Thailand but they must pay a fee to take the items out of customs. Some suspects claimed they had arrived in the country but had been detained by immigration police, and asked their victims to transfer them money for bail.
Victims made several cash transfers to the gang before finally realising they had been duped when the fake boyfriends and gifts never arrived. "Some suspects also used the victims' bank accounts for receiving money wired from other women they had previously duped," said Pol Lt Col Chakrit.
About 70% of the victims filed complaints, but most local police failed to track down suspects due to a lack of proficiency in cyber crime. Pol Lt Gen Thitirat instructed the CIB to work with the TCSD to crack down on the fraudsters.
"We started compiling information in May and found more than 10 scam-related cases at police stations across the country. Several Thai women ended up penniless after they were conned out of large sums of money," the CIB chief said.
After a month of piecing together evidence, authorities simultaneously raided 40 target locations on June 25 in Bangkok's Bang Kapi district and Pratunam, Pathum Thani's Lam Luk Ka district, Ayutthaya's Muang district and Pattaya in Chon Buri.
Twenty Nigerians, three Cameroonians, one each from Liberia and Zambia and a Thai woman were caught during the crackdowns. Among the suspects were Nigerian nationals Desilets Toni Nicole, Onyekashukwu Elvis Smart Egbule, and Nnamoko Chibuzo Comelius; a Zambian identified as Timothy Dzozi; and Mr Dzozi's Thai wife, Benja Teerachaiphaisan.
The Thanyaburi Provincial Court issued arrest warrants for the suspects on several charges. Authorities also impounded 151 mobile phones, 25 counterfeit passports, fake stamps of the Australian and Nigerian embassies, 78 passbooks and 10 computers.
Back in February, the TCSD also apprehended Ifeanyi George Okoronkwo, aka "OJ", a Nigerian man who was a key member of the so-called "Nigerian 419" gang, as he was attempting to leave the country via Suvarnabhumi airport.
According to investigators, Mr Okoronkwo swindled 10 million baht from more than 30 Thai women over five years. He was charged with embezzlement and ATM card fraud, as well as computer fraud.
Pol Lt Gen Thitirat said police want to stamp out the romance racket as many foreign criminals in the scam use Thailand as their base to commit these illegal activities.
The CIB chief warned Thai women not to be hasty or to trust strangers they meet online. If they are approached, they should take time to check the background of the person before wiring them money, he said, and they should see each other face to face before making any financial transactions.
Contact Crime Track: crimetrack@bangkokpost.co.th.
Despite continuing efforts such as the (now failed) cleanweb-Thailand.com, major scams continue against Thai women by individual con men and gangs. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)