A 48-year-old transsexual was arrested on Saturday night for allegedly swindling a Japanese man, the latest in a decade of similar offences against mostly Japanese men, adding up to about 26 million baht.
According to police sources, the arrest of Uthai Nanthakhan aka Amy followed a fraud complaint from a Japanese man aged 36. He filed the complaint at the Thong Lor police station.
The victim said he got to know Uthai in January. At that time the suspect told him she was a visitor from Hong Kong. After meeting several times, she duped him into making payments for her.
Police said the suspect usually told victims, mostly Japanese men, that she had lost her wallet and passport during her trip and needed to borrow money for such things as applying for a new passport, medications and medical treatment, and insurance.
The suspect's fraud record dated back to 2011, with 73 victims tricked out of about 26 million baht altogether. This year police received complaints from three victims who said they lost about 4 million baht.
The suspect had been jailed for a similar crime in 2015 and released in 2018.