Two alleged romance scammers, who had been evading Thai authorities, were minutes away from entering Malaysia when they were greeted by Thai immigration police at the Sadao immigration checkpoint.

"We detected the presence of the two Malaysian men about 10 pm (local time) last Sept 25 at the Sadao Immigration checkpoint and made the arrest, just minutes before they crossed the border into Malaysia," said Maj Gen Surachet Hakpal, deputy head of tourist police bureau.

The police, he said, had been on the hunt for the two men ever since a young Thai woman reported them. She had claimed that she had been scammed by a syndicate operated by Malaysian men.

According to Surachet, the two Malaysian men were part of a "romance scam" transnational syndicate.

He said police recovered 40 bank accounts from the two Malaysian suspects and would summon all the names that appear on the bank accounts to facilitate their investigation into the syndicate’s activities.

He said a Malaysian woman, believed to also be a member of the syndicate, managed to evade arrest by the Thai police and is believed to be in Malaysia.

Surachet said based on the report lodged by the Thai woman, she lost a total of 6.4 million baht (about RM810,000) during three months of "romance" through the WeChat mobile phone application with one of the Malaysians who portrayed himself as a young, successful businessman.

The Malaysian man, who used a fake profile picture, had also promised to marry the Thai woman.

"The woman claimed the Malaysian man persuaded her to transfer the money for an investment in the stock market," he said, adding that the victim transferred the money via 56 banking transactions, ranging from 100,000 baht (about RM12,658) to 1 million baht (about RM126,000) per transfer.

Meanwhile, a Thai police source said the "romance scam" activities operated by the two Malaysians was believed to be based in Malaysia and Hong Kong.

"They (the Malaysians) transferred some of the money to Hong Kong bank accounts," he said, adding that this led police to believe that the syndicate was operated out of Malaysia and Hong Kong, and the members preyed on Thai women.

The Thai police he said, would seek the assistance of their Malaysian counterparts in the investigation, and to locate the Malaysian woman who managed to flee before her two compatriots were arrested in Sadao.

– Bernama