Women warned of attractive foreign lovers scam

CCIB spokesman Pol Col Kissana Phathanacharoen.
CCIB spokesman Pol Col Kissana Phathanacharoen.

The Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau has warned women of a fraudulent online matchmaker service that offers to find them attractive foreign lovers, and instead rips them off.

CCIB spokesman Pol Col Kissana Phathanacharoen said on Wednesday many women had filed complaints about being deceived by 'Mae Sue Online" (online matchmaker), which had about 150,000 followers on Facebook.

The page offered to find them foreign lovers, charging a range of fees.

"The charges included 20,000 baht for a foreigner who is a civil servant or engineer, 30,000 baht for a property developer, 50,000 baht for a doctor or pharmacist and 100,000 baht for a vineyard owner," Pol Col Kissana said.

The page also offered to develop profiles for clients at 7,000 baht a time, and to coach them in finding a foreign lover for 5,000 baht.

Clients received photos of attractive likely matches, which were pictures of a famous actor, athlete or businessman. That was when the complainants finally realised they had been fooled, Pol Col Kissana said.

From March 1 to Sept 17 about 2,600 people fell victim to the scam.

Vocabulary

  • attractive: pleasant to look at - น่าสนใจ
  • civil servant: someone who works for a government department - ข้าราชการ
  • client: a customer or someone who receives services - ลูกค้า
  • complainant: a person who makes a formal complaint in a court of law - ผู้ร้อง(ทุกข์),โจทก์,ผู้ฟ้องร้อง
  • fell victim to: hurt or damaged by something - ตกเป็นเหยื่อ
  • fraudulent: dishonest and illegal - ซึ่งฉ้อโกง
  • match: a person or thing that combines well with somebody/something else - คู่ที่เหมาะ (กับ), คู่รักหวานชื่น
  • matchmaker: a person who tries to arrange relationships between others -
  • rip off (verb): (informal) to cheat somebody, by making them pay too much, by selling them something of poor quality, etc - คิดราคามากเกินไป (คำไม่เป็นทางการ)
  • scam: a dishonest plan, especially for getting money - กลโกง, แผนร้าย
  • vineyard: (adj) a piece of land where grapes are grown in order to produce wine -
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