Fraudsters in Thailand have targeted Russian relocants with offers of easy part-time work, according to a report by news outlet Baza.
One victim, 28-year-old Igor from the Siberian city of Chita, was detained by local police after participating in what he believed was a routine property management assignment in the resort town of Pattaya.
Igor explained that a man using the name Alexei contacted him through a messaging application to offer him temporary work.
The job required Igor to meet arriving tourists at rental housing, hand over keys, accept payment from them, and transfer the money directly to the employer.
For completing the first transaction, the recruiter promised Igor a payment of 1,500 baht, which is worth about 3,900 Russian rubles.
However, police detained the Russian national shortly after he finished the assignment on suspicion of involvement in a fraudulent scheme.
Igor was unaware that the accommodation was not actually available for rent and that the incoming tourists were being scammed.
To avoid facing a prison sentence, Igor reached a formal settlement agreement with the victims and paid them 30,000 baht, or around 78,000 rubles.
Employment fraud in Pattaya
Pattaya is a major coastal resort city located on the Gulf of Thailand, known for attracting international tourists and hosting a community of long-term Russian residents.
Chita, where Igor is from, is an eastern Siberian city that serves as the administrative center of Zabaykalsky Krai in Russia.
Investigations revealed that the recruiter operating under the name Alexei has targeted multiple other Russian citizens with similar part-time job offers.
The suspect continues to post job advertisements from new social media accounts while using counterfeit documents to hide his identity.
Previous fraud cases in Thailand
The scam follows another recent criminal case involving fraud directed at foreign nationals residing in Southeast Asia.
In that earlier case in Thailand, a Russian woman received a nine-month prison sentence after posing as an ambassador's wife and charging compatriots money under false promises of securing official visas.
