Thai police raid luxury condo, arrest six Nigerians over romance scams - The Straits Times

Thai police arrested six individuals in connection with a romance scam operation targeting older Thai women. The suspects allegedly used fake online profiles, some generated with AI, to build trust and then defraud their victims.

What happened

On May 22, Thai police conducted a raid, codenamed Dark Room Crackdown, on a luxury condominium in Nonthaburi. They arrested six Nigerian nationals, aged 23 to 35, who were allegedly operating a romance-scam network. Police seized 18 mobile phones, three laptops, and three bank books. The devices contained alleged romance-scam chats, scam scripts, and AI-generated profile images. The suspects allegedly used fake profiles of well-presented foreign men, such as pilots, soldiers, lawyers, engineers, and doctors, to approach victims via various social media platforms. The suspects are initially charged with being members of a secret society and overstaying their permission to remain in Thailand.