From 2022 to 2024, the police recorded 5164 cases of romantic scams with a total loss of over 1.

Love or Lie? Thailand on high alert over romantic scams. Bangkok Post warns that romantic scams in Thailand have reached record levels. From 2022 to 2024, the police recorded 5164 cases of romantic scams with a total damage of over 1.6 billion baht. On the COFACT forum "Love or Lie?" held on Valentine's Day, Deputy Police Colonel Piabporn Meekiatipunt from the Technological Crime Suppression Division revealed the main schemes: - Love bombing - "love bombing": a scammer showers the victim with attention, love confessions, wedding and future plans within a week or a month. Everything is too perfect and too fast. - Fake social media profiles: "doctor on an oil rig", "US engineer", "millionaire businessman". Often the accounts are full of likes from Thai women but without real friends. - AI helps: scammers study the victim's interests and generate "genuine" conversations. Classic scams: – "Money for visa/passport/customs to come to you" – "Invest in my business – get huge profits" (pig butchering scheme: small profit first, then huge investments and blocking withdrawals) – "Family members are seriously ill – help with treatment" – "Sending a pricey gift, but need customs payment" – Requests for nude photos for future blackmail Especially vulnerable are senior citizens living alone: they're ashamed to admit it to their children, so victims remain silent. Police are currently searching for 62 suspects in romantic scams and 43 in call centers of scammers. Experts' advice: - Real relationships develop slowly and include arguments/patching up. - Never transfer money to strangers online. - Don't send intimate photos. - If you smell a scam, immediately call the online fraud center 1441 (operates 24/7). They can freeze the scammer's account in an hour. - Suspicious message? Check it through ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude. "This can happen to any family," says Supinya Klangnarong, founder of COFACT. For readers: Never transfer money to strangers online and don't send intimate photos. If you suspect a scam, call 1441.