The 70-year-old woman nearly lost everything due to being scammed, but ended up profiting more than 1.7 billion dong thanks to rising gold prices.
The 'classic' phone scam
In early October 2025, a 70-year-old woman living in Bangkok (Thailand) received a call from a police impersonator, accusing her bank account of being linked to an international money laundering ring.
In a panic, she was asked to transfer 410,000 baht (about 315 million dong) to an account in Hong Kong 'for investigation.'
Later, the scammer continued to entice her to 'cooperate' by withdrawing all her savings of over 14 million baht (11.2 billion dong) to buy gold and hand it over to them.
Out of fear, she faithfully followed each step of the instructions, unaware that she was falling into a transnational scam.
Realizing just in time and the spectacular ambush
By October 17, feeling something was off, the elderly woman went to Lapa Chai 2 police to report.
The police planned an ambush when she was asked to bring gold to a meeting point. The next noon, she hid the gold in a powdered milk box and took it to the designated location.
When a man from Hong Kong came to collect, the police swooped in and arrested him. The suspect was identified as a link in the international scam ring, having entered Thailand at the end of 2024 and staying illegally to acquire assets for the criminal group.
Unexpectedly 'struck it big' thanks to skyrocketing gold prices
While the entire case was under investigation, global gold prices rose by more than 15%, pushing gold prices in Thailand to a record high.
When the gold she had purchased was returned, the elderly woman sold it and received 16.7 million baht (13.4 billion dong).
After deducting the 410,000 baht she was scammed out of, she still profited nearly 1.7 billion dong in just a few weeks.
Though she narrowly escaped disaster, her story is a powerful warning about sophisticated scams impersonating public authorities – but also a testament to the rare 'luck in misfortune.'