Suspected Nigerian scammers arrested in Nonthaburi

Six Nigerian men have been arrested by Thai police in raids on three rooms in a condominium near Phra Nang Klao Bridge in Muang district of Nonthaburi today. Police also seized 18 cellphones, three computer notebooks and three bank books found in their rented rooms.

According to police, the raid today was a follow-up operation after police arrested four suspects, including one Nigerian only identified as ‘Patrick’, on April 18 on narcotic trafficking charges, after a sizeable amount of cocaine was found in their passion.

Police checked their bank accounts and financial transactions and discovered that they were connected with a Nigerian romance scam gang, resulting in the raid today in Nonthaburi.

Police said that the six Nigerians entered Thailand on student visas, but none of them went to any college here, nor do they have any jobs, but their bank accounts show substantial deposits.

Police checked their cellphones and found a chat platform on some them, featuring fake profiles presenting themselves as either a good-looking pilot, an engineer, a doctor or an American soldier, looking for Thai women as companions, most of whom are middle-aged.

The usual trick employed by the gang members, after they have established a relationship with their potential victims, is that an expensive parcel arrives in the country but which is held up at an airport by customs officials. They claim to be short of cash to claim the parcel and would ask the Thai women to lend them some money to claim the parcel, while promising to share the expensive goods with them.