Thai beauty queen loses $118,000 in AI-powered scam

The men, 31-year-old Ramil Pantawong and 28-year-old Thanawut Kanyaphanthe, were arrested in two separate Thai districts on Sunday and Monday, the South China Morning Post reported. They have been accused of participating in a 50-person scam network in a building in Cambodia.

Austin said she received a call in December last year, where the caller posed as a member from the Department of Special Investigation. They said Austin was linked to a money laundering case, and requested her to send ฿4 million to prove her innocence. The money was never returned to her, the Philippine Star reported.

Ramil and Thanawut said they were recruited on social media to become administrators of a gambling website. However, when they arrived in Cambodia, their phones and passports were taken away and they were forced to work for a scam center.

The scam network had targeted at least 163 people by masquerading as Thai officers and tricking victims into sending them money, said Jiraphop Bhuridej, commissioner of the Central Investigation Bureau. AI was used to alter the faces of scammers during video calls, he added.