A beauty queen has been paid off after being scammed £88,000 by fake cops, with the bank forced to cough up.
Charlotte Austin was the victim of a vicious call centre scam which cost her thousands.
The 27-year-old was reportedly kept on the phone by the fraudsters posing as police officers for over 24 hours.
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The scammers contacted the runner up for Miss Grand Thailand 2022, and falsely claimed that her name had been used to open a bank account connected to criminal activity.
According to the court case, the actress and beauty queen was convinced by the fraudsters that she was under investigation and was obliged to cooperate.
During the video call, the scammers prevented the Phuket-born star from contacting friends or family members.
Convinced she was helping the police, Charlotte transferred around £88,500 (4 million Thai Baht) into accounts later revealed to be mule accounts, as reported by Need To Know.
The fraudsters claimed the money was required for financial verification.
The scam came to light when Nawat Itsaragrisil, president of Miss Grand International, alongside members of the organisation, became concerned about the beauty queen’s behaviour.
They alerted the authorities, which later led to officers from the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau arresting four members of the call centre scam network.
On 11 Jul, the four scammers involved were each handed sentences of up to 19 years and six months in prison.
In a separate civil lawsuit filed against her bank, Charlotte alleged that it had breached its duty of care by allowing the high-risk transactions to proceed.
Following the lawsuit, the court ordered Kasikornbank to pay £22,000 (1 million Thai Baht) in damages, after they were ruled partially liable.
The Civil Court in Bangkok, Thailand, stated that the bank failed to flag suspicious transactions and freeze mule accounts in time during the incident.
Charlotte’s lawyer, Nitithon ‘James’ Kaewto, also revealed that the court ordered the four scammers to jointly pay Charlotte £88,500 (4 million Thai Baht) in compensation.
The payments have an annual interest of 5%, as reported by the Thaiger.
The bank was also ordered to pay £442 (20,000 Thai Baht) towards the beauty queen’s legal costs.
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