Youtuber arrested for stealing billions from more than 6,000 fans in investment scam after 2 years on the run

Natthamon "Nutty" Khongchak, aged 29, allegedly swindled thousands of followers out of about two billion Thai baht (around 45,655,020), through a foreign exchange trading scam. She was arrested in Indonesia alongside with her mum.

The pair were caught in Dumai, a coastal city in Riau province on the island of Sumatra, on Friday October 18 by Indonesian police and Interpol. Khongchak and her mum, Thaniya Khongchak, are expected to be handed over to Thai authorities later today (Friday October 25), with Thai national police chief Pol Gen Kitrat leading a team of investigators to return them for trial on fraud charges.

Disgraced Youtuber Natthamon, aged 31, had more than 800,000 subscribers to her YouTube channel, "Nutty's Diary," where she mostly posted music videos. She first rose to fame on the platform in 2014 and used aliases Leah and Suchata on her YouTube channel, where she posted singing and dancing tutorials, K-pop covers, as well as vlogs about her luxury daily life.

By posting pictures of luxury cars, watches and properties, Khongchak made it appear as though she lived a lavish lifestyle, which many of her followers wanted to emulate. She later presented herself as an investment guru and used her popularity to promise high returns. She advertised private courses for aspiring foreign exchange traders.

In total, she duped more than 6,000 victims, many who later reported they had not received any payouts at all and filed complaints against her. She responded to the complaints with an Instagram post where she claimed that she lost all her investors’ money after a huge mistake in trading and promised to return them what she owed if they gave her a little time. She then stopped responding to messages, however, and seemingly went on the run.

The fraud victims were represented by lawyer Phaisal Ruangrit, who filed complaints on their behalf on August 24 2022. The lawyer said the former YouTuber had used her popularity to lure victims with the promise of high returns in a short time. She invited people to deposit money in her account, allegedly promising 25% returns for three-month contracts, 30% for six-month contracts and 35% for 12-month contracts. She pledged to pay returns every month. This never happened.

The social media star’s private secretary, Nichaphat Rattanukrom, was also wanted on an arrest warrant for public fraud and remains at large. The three had fled to Indonesia, according to CCIB investigators. Thai authorities then sought cooperation from the Indonesian embassy in Bangkok and Interpol to help arrest them.

The Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau and the Immigration Bureau are also involved in the case. The investigation is on-going.