A 52-year-old Thai woman, Orathai (surname withheld), was arrested at Hat Yai International Airport for allegedly assisting a Nigerian romance scam gang and laundering money connected to a massive 6.223 billion baht fraud case.
Immigration officers took Orathai into custody at 3:25 PM on Saturday, February 1, 2025, upon her return from Malaysia.
She had been evading authorities since May 7, 2020, when an arrest warrant was issued against her for involvement in a transnational criminal network, money laundering, and supporting illegal activities.
Investigators tracked Orathai to Malaysia, where she had been working, and monitored her movements, leading to her arrest upon re-entry into Thailand.
Orathai told police she had returned to visit her children.
Authorities revealed that her bank accounts were used to receive 6.223 billion baht stolen by a romance scam victim, Chamanan (surname withheld), a former financial manager.
Chamanan was deceived by a gang member posing as an American soldier in Afghanistan and was manipulated into embezzling company funds before transferring the money to Orathai’s accounts.
Orathai claimed she was unaware of the fraud and insisted she had been misled. She said she met a Nigerian man in 2017 while working at a massage shop in Malaysia.
According to her, he persuaded her to open bank accounts for his supposed financial business, paying her 6,500 baht per account.
She alleged that he controlled all account transactions.
Police continue to investigate further links to the transnational scam operation.
