African scammer arrested in Pattaya after conning several Thai women
There has been several, well documented scams over the years with many related to African men, and there are no shortage in Pattaya.
The latest arrest took was handled by Pattaya police recently in which a 41 year old man was apprehended.
The suspect, a Mr Michael Joseph, originally from Mozambique, was arrested on suspicion of overstay, which was later confirmed by officials.
Police said that they had been tracking the movements of the suspect, along with a bunch of his “friends and acquaintances” too.
They finally seized the opportunity to arrest the man at his home in Banglamung, and after a quick look at his passport, confirmed that he had indeed overstayed his visa by a good 4 years, with his entry stamp dating back to 2013.
The police, however, were not satisfied with just the overstay charge, and so, started digging a little deeper into how the man had been earning money to support himself during his extended stay in Thailand.
It didn’t take long until they hit the jackpot. Mr Michael Joseph had been pretending to be a completely different Joseph, and not just any Joseph either, but the highly acclaimed General Joseph Dunford of the US Marine Corps and the 19th chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
The African man was using the image of the the US general to make him look rich and powerful, whilst “looking for love” with a vulnerable Thai woman.
Police found that he had regularly received payments of 50,000 Baht in cash, which was the payment needed in order for his “girlfriends” to receive all of the gold and diamonds which he had sent to them as a gift.
After seeing the amount of transfers received, police urged any victims of the scam to come forward and contact Pattaya police.
Source: Daily news
