Woman conned by marriage scam
A Samut Prakan woman has told police she was deceived by a person claiming to be an Australian man who she met on Facebook and was conned into handing over 190,000 baht after he promised to marry her.
Nawaporn Chaiaumporn, 35, a company employee in Samut Prakan, filed a complaint with Crime Suppression Division (CSD) officers on Monday.
Ms Nawaporn said that on May 14 a colleague asked her to correspond in English with a foreigner via Facebook. The man introduced himself in his Facebook profile as an Australian national named Ferry Franklin.
Police were told that the man sent photos to her and claimed to be an officer at a US embassy. He said he was impressed by what he had learned about her and wanted to marry her.
"Franklin" said he would give her US$300,000 and other valuables including a smart phone and a gold necklace, she said.
Two days later Ms Nawaporn received a phone call from a woman who told her she had a parcel addressed to her from another country, but it was held at Phuket Immigration Office and could not be sent to her unless she paid 30,000 baht in "administration fees".
The woman identified herself as Tidawan Kongchan and said she was an employee of a shipping company. She said she wanted Ms Nawaporn to receive the package quickly.
“Being startled and convinced that this was a true story, I rush to transfer the money to her account,” Ms Nawaporn said.
After the first transaction, "Tidawan" told the victim the parcel also contained a large amount of cash and she had to pay her another 40,000 baht "administration fee".
The woman then sent her some documents purporting to be package delivery confirmation by fax, and asked her for another 120,000 baht for warranty charges on assets in the parcel.
Ms Nawaporn said that on May 17 alone she transferred money to the woman four times, totaling 190,000 baht.
Police say they have received similar complaints from other women and believe the marriage scam gang has both local and foreign members who live in Thailand.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/350989/facebook-scam-cons-thai-woman-out-of-b190000
