Former Thai journalist shares painful encounter with online investment-romance scam

Author: Montira Narkvichien

Bangkok, Thailand — When the man with a charming smile and impeccable online profile reached out to 57-year-old Narakorn Tiyayon, a former Thai television news anchor, she never imagined she was about to fall for a sophisticated digital scam.

“It began innocently,” Narakorn said, with a hello message on Facebook on 4 June 2025.

“Normally, I ignore messages like that, but his profile looked real – too perfect, maybe – and I replied,” she recalled. “He was handsome, polite and seemed successfully and well-educated.”

But what followed, Narakorn said in an interview with UN Women on 11 November 2025, was a slow, calculated manipulation that combined emotional connection with financial deceit. The man claimed to be an expert in cryptocurrency investment and sent her screenshots supposedly showing high returns and his equally realistic-looking Chinese ID and passport.

Weeks of daily texting on Facebook and the LINE messaging app ensued, including morning greetings, coffee chats and goodnight wishes. He seemed to remember every little thing she had told him. Narakorn said she started to envision “a dream relationship” complete with “a fantasy family we would both build together”.

The man then convinced her to “try a small investment” and demonstrated how she could earn and withdraw small profits.

“That was how they got me,” she explained. “Seeing real money come back made it feel legitimate.”

“I earned 5,000 baht [about $154], then 7,000 baht ($216) and then 8,000 baht ($247) from various legit-looking platforms he helped me navigate,” she said.

Then on 27 August, he tried to get her to invest $100,000, while he would chip in $300,000.

“Then I knew there was something wrong,” Narakorn said, “I woke up from the spell.”

She shut down all their chat channels and reported him to Facebook and to the Stock Exchange Commission of Thailand.

Narakorn later found out that behind the glossy profile was an elaborate criminal network. The scammer’s “investment platform”, Muropro, was a fraudulent website that redirected her transactions through legitimate Thai crypto exchanges before vanishing into anonymous digital wallets.

“I realized later that this was part of a global pig butchering scam – psychological grooming mixed with fake investment returns,” she said.

“People may think that romance scam victims were stupid or greedy,” she said. “But we simply have a heart and empathy. Our trust in people has been manipulated. … Scammers use advanced psychology and technology – anyone can be deceived. I was lucky to stop before losing everything.”

Cybersecurity experts and UN Women say that surging online financial scams disproportionately target women, exploiting emotional vulnerability and trust. Authorities and civil society groups have urged stronger digital literacy, safety education and multilateral crackdowns on online scam centres located across Thailand’s borders with Cambodia and Myanmar and elsewhere.

Narakorn is scheduled to speak at a 27 November seminar on ending digital violence against women, led by the Embassy of Belgium in collaboration with UN Women, United Nations Population Fund, and the Embassies of the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The event is part of activities to mark the United Nations annual 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence.

“I want people, especially women, to know that being cautious online isn’t paranoia. It’s protection,” Narakorn said. “We must talk about it openly so others don’t have to go through what I did.”