Rescue teams and Mueang Trat police prevented a 58-year-old Thai woman from taking her own life for the second time yesterday after she lost nearly 90,000 baht to an online romance scam. The woman, identified as Amornrat, had locked herself in a second-floor bedroom in Bang Phra sub-district. Her distraught sister-in-law called the police and emergency services, prompting a tense response that ended with a life saved.
Officers and rescuers arrived to find Amornrat crying behind the closed door. A rescuer kept a calm, steady voice while talking to her through the wood, eventually persuading her to open the door. Inside, they discovered a nylon rope in her hands. When the rescuer reached to remove it, Amornrat tightened her grip and made a desperate attempt to strangle herself. Quick action from the team prevented tragedy. She broke down in tears and was comforted and steadied until she could regain some composure.
This marked the second suicide attempt for Amornrat. The first occurred on August 6, when rescuers also intervened in time. Two days after that earlier attempt she filed a complaint at Mueang Trat Police Station, but the suspect remains at large.
According to her sister-in-law and police reports, the emotional collapse followed months of deceit. The scammer had cultivated an online relationship with Amornrat using the name Pornthep and the nickname “Winner.” He professed love and spun a future together—talking about building a house—before convincing her to transfer money. Police say she borrowed nearly 90,000 baht from a friend and sent much of it to the fraudster, who exploited her trust and affection for financial gain. Now, overwhelmed by guilt and daily meetings with the lender, she could not see a way out.
Police reviewed message logs and call records in their ongoing investigation. They also told local media that they will coordinate with the Trat Provincial Social Development and Human Security Office to ensure Amornrat receives medical, legal and psychological support.
The case is sadly familiar. Romance scams prey on emotions and can leave deep financial and mental scars, especially among older adults who are seeking companionship. Scammers invest time to appear caring and sincere—then ask for money, sometimes layering requests over weeks or months until victims are buried in debt or despair.
How to spot and avoid online romance scams
- Be wary of overly flattering messages that turn romantic very quickly. Scammers often rush intimacy to lower your guard.
- Never send money or share financial details with someone you’ve only met online. Requests to help with “urgent” expenses, travel or investments are major red flags.
- Verify identities. Do a reverse image search of profile photos, ask questions only a genuine acquaintance could answer, and request video calls before trusting someone’s story.
- Keep records. Save screenshots, call logs, bank transfer confirmations and any conversation history—this helps police investigations.
- Report suspicious accounts to the platform where contact occurred and to your local police station immediately.
If you or someone you know has already transferred money, contact your bank as soon as possible to explore whether transactions can be stopped or traced. File a complaint with local law enforcement and, if available, to national cybercrime units so authorities can investigate patterns and perpetrators.
Emotional support matters
Financial loss can ripple into anxiety, shame and isolation. If you or a loved one is feeling overwhelmed, please reach out. In Thailand, the Samaritans of Thailand operate a 24-hour English hotline at 02 713 6791 and a Thai hotline at 02 713 6793. The Thai Mental Health Hotline is also available at 1323 (Thai).
Friends and family can make a crucial difference simply by listening without judgment and helping connect someone to professional help. Local social services—like the Trat Provincial Social Development and Human Security Office—can assist with follow-up care, counselling and practical steps to manage debt and recovery.
Amornrat’s story is a reminder that scams don’t just take money: they take hope. The swift actions of the rescuer and police in Trat prevented another devastating outcome, and authorities are pursuing the person who used the names Pornthep and Winner. If you suspect someone you know may be involved with an online romance that’s asking for money, act early: encourage verification, insist on video calls, and help them contact the police if needed.
If you are feeling lonely, stressed, or depressed—reach out. Talk to friends, family, or one of the hotlines above. Seeking help is a sign of strength, and there are people who will listen and support you through the recovery process.
Photo credit: Amarin TV
So heartbreaking that someone would take advantage like that. We need stronger tracking of these scammers and quicker bank freezes when money is being sent. I hope she gets counseling and the lender eases up a bit.
This case highlights systemic failures: banks, platforms, and social safety nets all share responsibility. Financial institutions should have better fraud-detection flags for repeated small transfers and elder-targeted patterns, and platforms must verify accounts that quickly form romantic attachments.
I agree, but banks always say it’s ‘customer responsibility.’ Not good enough. If algorithms can spot fraud for corporations they can for individuals too.
Poor auntie, poor family. Why do people trust strangers so much online? It’s scary.
Because loneliness is a deep thing. Blaming victims helps nobody — we should educate but also regulate the apps that let fake profiles flourish.
Hotlines work if you call them early. Family needs to be nonjudgmental and help contact police for tracebacks immediately, banks can sometimes freeze transfers if acted on quickly.
Thanks everyone, I’ll check in with my neighbors and warn older folks here. Shame and pride make them not tell family until it’s too late.
Media loves these tragic stories but never asks why the lender kept hounding her or why social services didn’t step in sooner. There are layers of negligence. Also, do we need to publish her name and photo?
As a journalist, we balance identification with privacy; names are sometimes released by police. But I take your point — sensitivity is crucial and we should avoid re-victimizing people who survived trauma.
Thanks for the reply. I still feel outlets could anonymize more and focus on systemic reform rather than lurid detail.
This makes me so angry and sad. She trusted someone and lost everything; shame drove her to try again. We must teach empathy instead of judgement.
Shame is a major barrier to recovery; community-based counseling and debt mediation are vital. Social service follow-up must be proactive, not reactive, to prevent repeated attempts.
Absolutely — therapy should be offered immediately and family should monitor without shaming. Small acts of kindness save lives.
Why are older people still online? They should stick to real-life friends. This is common sense. Technology has traps and seniors need strict guidance.
Patronizing much? Older adults deserve dignity and access to online life. The problem is predators, not seniors’ presence on the internet. Support, not exclusion, is the answer.
Support is fine, but ‘support’ means active education and supervision. Letting them freely use platforms without safeguards is irresponsible.
Education and tech design that prevents harm are better than policing who may use the internet. Ageism won’t stop fraudsters.
We need stricter punishments for romance scammers and quicker international cooperation to arrest these people. It’s organized crime, not lonely individuals.
Legislation helps but enforcement is tricky when perpetrators operate across borders and use fake IDs and VPNs. Mutual legal assistance treaties and international cybercrime units need resources, not just harsher laws.
Point taken, but governments could prioritize cybercrime prosecutors and force platforms to keep better verification logs for investigators.
That’s so sad. People should never send money to strangers. Why do they even do that?
Local social services should have been looping in the bank and the lender earlier. Ongoing harassment from lenders is a known suicide risk factor and should be part of police welfare checks.
Exactly — debt collectors can be cruel. There should be rules preventing harassment while a fraud complaint is under investigation.
I’m reporting this to our community office to see if they can set up a task force for elder-targeted scams; prevention beats rescue every time.
Please do. Practical help like negotiating with lenders and temporary relief could save lives.
As an older person, I know how lonely evenings feel. But it’s scary that criminals pretend to care. We need group activities so seniors don’t depend on strangers online.
Community centers are great; if seniors get out more they won’t fall for these schemes as easily. Real relationships protect you.
Yes, but also stop blaming victims — loneliness doesn’t make someone deserving of being conned.
Hotlines are fine, but will they reach rural elders who don’t speak English or know the numbers? Accessibility is a real problem that gets ignored.
True — outreach needs to be multilingual and local volunteers trained to spot signs of online exploitation.
Okay, good. Training volunteers and family members should be prioritized then, not just one-size-fits-all hotlines.
From a medical standpoint, repeated suicide attempts after acute stressors like fraud are emergencies. Immediate psychiatric assessment and safety planning are mandatory.
Platforms that allow fake ‘portraits’ and romantic scams should be fined when patterns emerge. They profit from engagement yet ignore harm. It’s corporate negligence.
Banks are stuck between privacy laws and the need to act; platforms holding message logs could be compelled to share limited info during investigations with proper warrants.
So let’s demand swift legal pathways that let investigators request those logs while protecting user privacy. Delay kills trust and sometimes lives.
Exactly — balancing privacy and safety is delicate, but emergency disclosure provisions for suspected fraud could be designed with judicial oversight to prevent abuse.