Two Thai men were arrested today for conducting an online romance scam, fleecing an unsuspecting Chinese woman who believed she had found true love in the form of “Dinler Steve,” a character they created on Facebook to woo her.
Tourist police arrested Sitthikorn Wongyai, 26, and Chatree Werddom, 19, at their apartment in Chonburi today after Chinese national Wong Mei, 59, sought their help at Don Mueang Airport on Sunday.
Mei told police that she had been talking to a man who went by the name Dinler Steve on Facebook for a month, and she was tricked into transferring THB605,600 (just over US$19,000) to his Thai bank account and coerced to fly to Bangkok and meet him.
But after handing over the money, Dinler Steve disappeared.
Coconuts’ checked into the phony account and discovered that “Dinler Steve” is a Turkish-born Brit who went to college in Texas and now lives in Bristol. Obviously, he’s also a single dad. What a keeper!
A screenshot from Facebook.
The two Thai men said they were hired to take part in the scam by another Thai woman, Utaiwan Chinbut, 39, whom they accused of being the true mastermind. The men said they had already transferred the victim’s money to Utaiwan’s account.
Police tracked down the transaction and discovered that Utaiwan had withdrawn the money in Malaysia, where she now apparently lives with her husband.
Police are requesting that Malaysian authorities arrest Utaiwan.
https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/dinler ... ese-woman/