A GLAM YouTuber who fled Thailand after “scamming” victims out of £47 million was arrested following a national anthem cock up.
Natthamon Khongchak, 32, from Thailand, was busted for fraud when immigration officials in Indonesia noticed her accent was off and she couldn’t sing the country’s national anthem.
Natthamon Khongchak, 32, from Thailand, allegedly scammed her victims out of £47 million[/caption]
The glam Thai YouTuber, also known as Nutty, was arrested for fraud[/caption]
She showcased her lavish lifestyle on Instagram, posting several tropical beach snaps and photos of luxury cars[/caption]
Khongchak, also known as Nutty, attempted to obtain citizenship in Indonesia after she posed as a foreign exchange trader.
The investment scheme had collapsed when thousands of suspected victims filed complaints in Bangkok – and one claimed she lost thousands that she would have used to send her child to university.
Khongchak fled to Kuala Lumpur with her secretary Nichapat Ratananukrom before she took a boat to a remote Indonesian island, where her mother later joined her.
Earlier this month, Khongchak allegedly applied for an Indonesian passport – which would have allowed her to travel internationally – when immigration officials became suspicious of her accent.
They reportedly asked her to sing the national anthem and recite country’s constitution but she failed.
Cops say she broke down under interrogation and admitted she had entered the country illegally.
Further checks with bungling officials in Thailand, who initially allowed her to slip through the net, revealed she was a fugitive wanted for the mass investment scam worth millions.
Police Lieutenant General Thatchai Pitaneelabut, Assistant Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police, said: “The suspect has been arrested for a financial fraud involving stock trading with damages of more than two billion Baht [£45 million].
“It has been found that the three suspects fled Thailand through natural channels in the southern region in 2022 before hiding in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“Later, she illegally entered Indonesia through Batam Island, which is an island and city in the province of Kepulau Wan Riau…
“…before travelling to Dumai City with other people helping them escape before being arrested in Dumai City, Riau Province, on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia on October 2, 2024.”
He said Khongchak is currently under investigation and will be sent to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) for legal action.
Khongchak’s mother was also arrested and the pair were deported to Thailand.
The mother-daughter duo arrived in Bangkok earlier this week and were remanded in custody, facing lengthy jail terms.
But Khongchak claims she turned herself in.
She told local media: “It was not my intention to run away. I never thought of that. I surrendered to the police.
“I want to apologise to everyone for what I have done. I want to apologise for bringing shame on the country.”
Khongchak ran a popular YouTube channel with more than 800,000 subscribers, regularly sharing trading tips while posing as a foreign exchange trader.
Her Instagram was awash with videos showcasing her luxury lifestyle, including tropical beach snaps and photos of luxury cars.
But lawyers representing the alleged victims filed multiple complaints with prosecutors.
They claim Khongchak used her major social media influence to lure victims into investing money with the promise of quick returns of 35 per cent but not paying out.
Phaisal Ruangri, a lawyer who campaigns to help fraud victims, said there are around 6,000 victims who had allegedly been fleeced of the huge total of at least £47 million.
He claimed one investor had deposited as much as £423,000 with Khongchak and was yet to receive any returns.
Ruangri said: “The investors trusted her because she was a popular YouTube star with almost a million subscribers.
“She used her popularity to trick her followers. On social media, she displayed her wealth, with holidays, designer clothes, handbags, and cars. Her fans believed she was a successful businesswoman.”
Her scheme first unfolded in April 2022, when investors began claiming they had not received the return they had been promised.
A month later, Khongchak stated in an Instagram post that she had made a mistake in trading and lost all the money – promising she would pay back her investors.
At the time she told her loyal followers that she wouldn’t be able to repay other investors if she was jailed.
A mother who lost her child’s university savings told local media she’d lost a whopping £42,000 in the alleged scam.
She said: “I was saving this money to send my children to university.
“I thought that the money Nutty promised would help us live a more comfortable life. Now I am sick with worry as I’ve lost everything.”
According to the arrest warrant, Khongchak and her secretary Ratananukrom were wanted for “defrauding people together”.
They are both accused of “advertising or announcing to the public of money borrowing where the pay benefits rates are higher than the highest interest rate that a financial institution can pay”.
Khongchak was deported to Thailand with her mother and the two face lengthy jail terms[/caption]
