A Thai woman working in the United States has told UN News how she fell for a scam orchestrated by a criminal network in Asia - and lost $300,000.
Wannapa Suprasert received a call from scammers who drew her into an elaborate false narrative involving identity theft, an international police investigation and the threat of a criminal trial.
She was told that she and family members could face jail time: "They made a threat that they would be tapping my phone. The mind is very powerful because once you're in that delusion, I guess I couldn't think clearly and I was just very concerned about my family safety," she said.
It began on a Friday afternoon in March 2024 when Ms. Suprasert, who goes by the name of Bow, received a call from a woman claiming to work at the Thai embassy in Washington DC, in the United States.
She was told that a copy of her passport, which she had recently renewed, had somehow fallen into the wrong hands and that she was facing the danger of identity theft.
During that same call, she was transferred to an official working for what she was told was the Thai Central Investigation Bureau in Bangkok.
She was told to provide identity cards and other personal details, including bank accounts, as part of the supposed investigation.
