Scammer tricks Thai woman, 70, into buying gold, she ends up making S$107,000 profit when prices really surged

A 70-year-old woman in Thailand initially lost over 410,000 baht (S$16,200) after being fooled by a call centre scam.

But in a serendipitous twist of fate, she ended up earning a profit by the time her case concluded — because the scammer got her to buy gold when her bank account got frozen in September just as gold prices were beginning to surge globally.

Tricked into transferring money

According to Ch7HD News, the scammer tricked the elderly woman into believing that her bank account had been involved in a money laundering case.

After transferring over 410,000 baht (S$16,200) to an account in Hong Kong, her account got frozen by the bank, so the scammer advised her to buy gold bars instead using the rest of her savings.

Thai media reported that the victim gradually purchased gold bars using over 14 million baht (S$553,000) in cash, which was from her savings.

But sensing something was amiss, she went to the police on Oct. 17, according to One News.

The police then helped to devise a plan to catch the scammer.

Laid trap to nab scammer

The elderly woman was told by the scammer to put the gold bars in a milk power tin and to bring it to a meeting point.

On Oct. 18, the woman went to the meeting point as instructed.

Policemen in plainclothes waited in the vicinity.

Surveillance footage of how it all went down was reported by several Thai media outlets.

Policemen, who were dressed as a delivery rider and a motorcycle taxi rider, were seated near the victim.

When a man showed up and approached her, the policemen rushed to apprehend him.

Hong Kong national arrested

A male Hong Kong national was arrested for his involvement in the case.

His passport showed that he had entered Thailand as a tourist in December 2024, and was allowed to stay in Thailand until January 2025 under the tourist visa exemption scheme.

He did not obtain an appropriate visa for his stay until October 2025.

According to police, the man's role was to collect assets from the victims and to hand them to other members in the syndicate.

Elderly woman sells gold for staggering profits in weeks

After the case concluded, the victim sold the gold she had accumulated over weeks — for 16.7 million baht (S$652,900)

At the time of the sale, global prices of the asset had gone up by roughly 15 per cent in a few weeks, given the recent increase in the value of precious metals, including silver, which was believed to have been driven by institutional buyers.

According to Thai media reports, based on a back-of-the-hand calculation, the woman's stash of gold had been increasing in value during the weeks she was accumulating the asset as prices went on a bull run.

Her 14 million baht (S$554,000) cash investment became a 15.4 million baht (S$609,000) gold asset holding by the time she was done buying, as she was buying gold as it got costlier throughout September and October.

By the time she sold her gold assets, they were worth 16.7 million baht (S$660,800), it was reported.

Thai media reported that the woman's realised profit from the sale of her total gold holdings was 1.3 million baht (S$51,400).

But the overall profit was much greater at 2.7 million baht (S$107,000), given that her initial 14 million baht (S$554,000) cash outlay got turned into 16.7 million baht (S$660,800) after the gold was converted back to cash in a matter of weeks.

Even after deducting the 410,000 baht (S$16,200) she had lost to the scam initially, she was still up about 2.3 million baht (S$91,000).

The craziest part of the story is that she likely sold the gold at or near its historic peak, as prices have fallen by more than 6 per cent since.

Top photo composite image via Amarin TV/Youtube, OneNews/YouTube