A 65-year-old woman conned by a romantic scammer to invest through a fake crypto trading platform lost almost 12 million baht in just three months.
A complaint was filed with Pol Maj Gen Siriwat Deepor, chief of cybercrime Investigation Division 1, by the Foundation Campaigning to Reclaim Social Justice on Monday.
The victim was identified only as Aor, a retired nurse. She said the scammer used the alias Porn, posing as a woman, and first contacted her via TikTok on Dec 5, 2024. They entered into a romantic conversation, talking about their desire to have a life partner, Ms Aor said.
Ms Aor said her trust in Porn grew as they shared personal stories. After two weeks, Porn invited her to co-invest with her and her "aunt" she said was an investment adviser in Singapore.
The former nurse was told she needed to buy Tether, or USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, through the Thai trading platform Bitkub. She invested 5,000 baht on Jan 10, with the help of Porn.
Three weeks later, she withdrew the money and received 6,200 baht in return, which boosted her belief in the investment. She then made 14 more investments totaling 11.7 million baht from Feb 8 to April 6.
The 65-year-old complainant said she made multiple transactions because Porn kept telling her to top up the money to reach a fixed amount so that she could make a withdrawal.
When she did not do so, Porn would apply pressure, becoming sulky and starting quarrels, Ms Aor said.
In late April, the victim tried to withdraw the money, but Porn told her to transfer another five million baht first, then the return would be 30 million. At this stage, Ms Aor realised she was being scammed.
She said the scammer always refused to meet her in person.
Pol Maj Gen Siriwat said this was a transnational crime known as a ‘hybrid scam’ in which victims were tricked into investing in digital money.
The scammers would initially use a real platform, such as Bitkub in this case, and later guide the victim to a fake trading platform.
He said investigators have evidence that could be tracked and lead to an arrest. The investigation was continuing.