Crime
Woman Who Posed as US Soldier in Online Scam Arrested
Police have arrested a woman who is accused of defrauding another woman of US$10,000 in an online scam by posing as an American soldier. The scammer was apprehended at a shopping mall in central Thailand on Thursday.
Pol Lt Gen Jiraphob Bhuridej, the commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau, said that Ms Urai Khamsaenphan of Sa Kaeo was apprehended n Bang Lamung district in Chonburi Province.
In May 2019, the Chanthaburi Provincial Court issued a warrant for her arrest for colluding in public fraud and violating the Computer Crime Act in an online scam.
According to police, Ms Urai and her accomplices set up a romance scam by posing as an American soldier named Donald Steven to approach a woman online.
While chatting online posing as a US soldier the romance scammer led her victim to believe that the soldier loved her and wanted to marry her.
The scammer told the victim that the US soldier served in Iraq and that he received plenty of allowances. She led the woman to believe the soldiers’ plan was to leave the military and live with her in Thailand.
Cheated in an online scam
She was informed that a parcel with valuables had been sent to her. Later, he planned to fly to Thailand to be with her. A second member of the gang then called her, pretending to be an official responsible for international parcels. In this scam, she was told she owed fees amounting to 400,000 baht in order to clear a parcel.
An account number provided to her by the fake official was used to transfer US$10,000 out of the woman’s bank account.
She didn’t hear anything else from him or about the parcel after that. She reported the fraud to the Muang police in Chanthaburi after she discovered that she had been cheated in an online scam.
An investigation led police to Ms Urai and she was apprehended in Bang Lamung district in Chonburi Province.
When Ms Urai was questioned, she denied all charges and refused to make a statement.
She had a criminal record and was wanted by the police on another warrant issued by the Prachuap Khiri Khan Provincial Court on similar charges.
The online scam case has been referred to the Muang police in Chanthaburi for legal action.
