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The Facebook site allegedly belonging to American ''Nick Henry''

US, Malaysia Links as Expat Scammers Take More Than 2m Baht From Phuket Woman

Thursday, October 31, 2013
PHUKET: Police are concerned that women on Phuket are being scammed by foreigners in the US and Malaysia after a Phuket resident told how she lost more than two million baht in a rip-off.

Paisuda Dumrongcholthee, 43, went to police yesterday and told them how her Facebook friendship with an American named Nick Henry ended in deceit and international theft.

A Malaysian who gave his name as ''Mr Holl'' is also accused of being part of the scam.

Khun Paisuda told officers at Vichit Police Station yesterday that she had been chatting with Mr Henry on Facebook for ''quite a while.''

He agreed to send to Phuket from the US an iPhone, a watch, a purse, some chocolates and something ''secret'' in a manila envelope.

As proof, he specified a site where the shipping of the items would be noted, listing him as the sender and her as the receiver.

On October 11, she received a telephone call from a ''transport company'' to inform her that the items were ''stuck in Customs in Malaysia.''

She transferred 48,000 baht as request to the company to meet the Customs charge.

The following day, a ''Mr Holl'' called from Malaysia to tell her that after checking the items, he opened the manila envelope and found the equivalent of 11 million baht inside in foreign currency.

''I think you might be part of a money laundering gang and I will be forced to report you to Interpol and the police unless you send two million baht immediately,'' Khun Paisuda said she was told.

She transferred the money to the bank account she had been given. Over the following days, the realisation dawned that Khun Paisuda had been fooled.

Police on Phuket have had previous cases of deception involving foreigners who prey on Thai women and relieve them of their cash in a variety of scams similar to this one.

Comments

Comments have been disabled for this article.

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Thai ladies conned by foreigners is nothing compared by foreigners conned by Thai girlfriends or spouses.
How many foreigners bought lands and houses to end penniless many months to years later?
Do not forget that for many Thais, cheating a foreigners is not a sin... do not forget that we live in the Smiling Land called Thailand.

Posted by Whistle-Blower on October 31, 2013 12:48

Editor Comment:

We haven't forgotten, Whistle-Blower, but we'd like justice - or karma - to be applied in all cases, regardless of the scammer's background.

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I've seen this scam in action. A Thai girl staying with me had a similar online friend and asked me what I thought. The language / syntax was typical Nigerian.

Posted by Barry on October 31, 2013 15:33

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All the scams have one thing in common, they prey on the victims greed or in this case fear...in most cases they will offer you a big amount of money if you just send them a "bit" first ...

Posted by Sailor on October 31, 2013 16:42

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Thrse people prey on greed. I doubt she was threatened with interpol, more likely she was promised the 11m for a handling fee.

Posted by Barry on October 31, 2013 16:54

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A classic "man bites dog" kind of story, whisleblower :-)

Posted by Barry on October 31, 2013 19:29

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It amazes me how people think that this helps balance the very uneven scales of justice in Thailand. Unless you know that this lady has executed a scam on someone then it has no bearing on what some other woman has done to some foreigner. Its like all Thai women are resposible for what a few unscrupulous women have done to foreign men over the years.
And if the lady who has worked hard and saved and never done anyone a bad turn, suddenly falls prey to a scam because she hoped she might benefit in some way, then hell, she deserves it because someone somewhere did harm to someone else . Yeah , sure, that sounds fair.

Oh and of course she also deserves it cause she was greedy. But i'd be curious to know of the people who think like this, how many have never tried to get anything for free, or tried to benefit from a situation that they werent entirely entitled to .

Posted by Carvets on October 31, 2013 20:46

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@whistleblower, I've lived in Thailand ten years and have never, to my knowledge been cheated by any Thai person. If your experience has been different, I suggest you try to find a better class of girlfriend.

Posted by matt on October 31, 2013 21:08

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For sure this actually has nothing to do with the U.S. The person she was chatting with was in someplace like The Philippines or Africa. A lot of these scams are originate from there.

Posted by NomadJoe on October 31, 2013 21:11

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@carvets

Of course even if the victim was herself a scammer, where is the justice for the person she scammed. It's not as if her getting robbed puts the money back where it belongs.

Posted by SpurredoninDublin on October 31, 2013 21:13

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- Carvets

Well made and explained points.

I just fail to see where any of the comments made or the report itself in any way suggests what you accuse people of.

A great speech but you failed to wait until someone actually opens the door for your rant.

On the subject itself, I'm sorry she was scammed and hope she will get her money back, though I doubt it. I bet it's long since been withdrawn somewhere in Nigeria.

If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Posted by ThaiMike on October 31, 2013 21:37

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I wish you would stick to important stories like buffalo disease in the north. Seems like I am constantly sending 10000 baht to my girlfriend's mother due to sick and dying buffalos.

Posted by Fred on November 1, 2013 05:41

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ThaiMike,...my reply was a result of reading another forum on this subject and then seeing Whistle-Blowers comments.
But perhaps you are right.

Posted by Carvets on November 1, 2013 11:47


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