A COMPLAINT filed by a woman who lost over 2 million baht to a romance scam gang led to rounding up 13 African suspects at a condominium within Muang Thong Thani complex in Nonthaburi, PPTV36 said this evening (Jan.21).
This operation to dismantle the romance scam base followed an unnamed Thai woman’s complaint to Nong Khai police station late last year that she had been tricked by a gang using Facebook and Line accounts under the name “Bingwen Fu” with the profile photo of a Chinese man said to be an engineer.
As their relationship bloomed with regular sharing of photos of their work, soon after the New Year the scammer who romanced her said he is working on a large construction project but was unable to get payment on time and whether she could help cover the shortfall with a promise to repay later. Believing that this was true, she transferred money to a bank account four times, totaling over 2 million baht.
Police traced the payment and were able to arrest and file charges against the account holder.
Further investigation revealed that the mastermind of the fraud was a large group of Africans who operated through Telegram application and were based at Muang Thong Thani.
On Monday Jan. 19 at 1 p.m., the time police learnt the suspects usually chatted with their victims, a police team from Immigration Bureau 3 and Pakkret police station moved into a condo building where a large group of Africans who knew each other well lived and simultaneously searched their units. Some tried to flee barefoot but police caught them.
The raid led to the arrest of the 13 suspects, 11 from Nigeria and two from Ivory Coast, with eight having overstayed their visa while five Nigerians had illegally entered Thailand from Laos. Initially, they were charged with overstaying and illegally residing in the country.
Police also seized four computers and 29 mobile phones with preliminary examination showing romance chats with the suspects posing as attractive, wealthy foreigners from Europe and Asia to befriend Thai and foreign women and trick them into transferring money with this being a professional team effort with clearly defined roles.
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The 13 African romance scam suspects arrested today, Jan. 21, 2026. Photos – PPTVHD36
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