Wild moment scammed Aussie confronts lowlife accused of conning him out of $1.9million while flaunting his lavish lifestyle
Michael Reinecke, 63, allegedly had 40,000,000 Thai Baht ($1.9million) taken from him by a German expat in Thailand and local police helped not only catch the alleged fraudster, but make him face his victim.
Mr Reinecke was promised monthly returns of five to ten per cent through the crypto platform before the German suddenly shut down the 'investment platform' and allegedly disappeared with the money.
Mr Reinecke and his wife Areeat Noonyot, 50, reported the alleged scam to local police in Udon Thani Province on July 18.
Mr Reinecke, who retired to Thailand after a career as a police officer in Queensland, said he made an error in judgment.
'I was genuinely looking forward to a happy retirement with my Thai wife and never imagined I would be defrauded of nearly 40 million Baht like this. I am deeply saddened,' he said.
His alleged scammer boasted about his high-flying lifestyle on social media, posing next to swimming pools, driving luxury cars, enjoying yachts and riding in private jets.
But Mr Reinecke got his revenge when police tracked down the German and arrested him on August 1, before plonking him in front of the Aussie expat to explain himself.
'These guys are on top of you,' Mr Reinecke told him, before gesturing to surrounding police.
The alleged scammer attempted to weasel his way out of it.
'Do you really think this is going to help the situation? That you are going to get your money back?' he said.
'You should've thought about that before you did it, before you bullsh***ed me,' Mr Reinecke replied.
'Believe what you want. I have my lawyers and my witness statements. It will take time, but I will be fine,' the alleged scammer said.
He then went on to plead for Mr Reinecke's sympathy.
'I will mostly die here in Thai prison. Is that what you want?' he told him.
'You should have thought about that before you started ripping people off,' Mr Reinecke fired back.
The accused scammer was then taken away by police.
The 63-year-old Aussie said he became familiar with his alleged con artist through social media before travelling to Phuket to discuss an investment, saying he was manipulated by a man he thought was credible.
In a press conference over the weekend, Police Colonel Phattanawong Chanphon told local media the alleged scammer denied all charges, saying he did not intend to trick Mr Reinecke.
'He claimed that he lost his phone and was hacked, which prevented him from calling or refunding the money,' he said.
'However, we do not believe him, because while we were waiting for the court to issue his warrant, he was still livestreaming on his accounts and luring people to invest with him.'
The German expat was charged with fraud and 'fraudulently importing false computer data into a computer system in a manner likely to cause damage to the public'.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
33 minutes ago
- The Sun
Tragic tech tycoon Mike Lynch's business partner left huge sum in will before dying in car accident
THE business partner of tragic tech tycoon Mike Lynch left more than £350,000 in his will. Stephen Chamberlain was killed in a freak car accident just days before Mr Lynch died when his £38million superyacht the Bayesian sank in a storm off Sicily last August. 3 3 Both men had been acquitted of fraud in June 2024 over the £8.6billion sale of Mr Lynch's software firm Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011. Mr Chamberlain died aged 52 from head injuries three days after being hit by a car while out running near his home in Longstanton, Cambs. An inquest found that the driver could not have avoided the father of two. Figures from the Probate Registry show Mr Chamberlain left £358,933 — reduced to £346,508 after debts were paid — to widow Karen and children Ella and Teddy. Lynch, 59, died alongside his daughter and five other people when his yacht Bayesian sank off the coast of Sicily. He had been celebrating his acquittal from US fraud charges when his yacht was knocked sideways by a sudden 80mph gust and started taking in water. As the boat sank rapidly, Lynch's wife Angela Bacares was pulled to safety by a crew member. But their 18-year-old daughter Hannah and five others on board never made it out. The vessel sunk in just 16 minutes after being hit by a violent downburst. Chamberlain was a former vice-president of software company Autonomy. Moment tragic Bayesian yacht wreck is raised from depths after billionaire Mike Lynch and others died on board 3
Daily Mail
4 hours ago
- Daily Mail
American dentist and engineer wife taught harsh lesson after SHOPLIFTING during visit to strictest country on Earth
An American dentist and his engineer wife spent weeks behind bars after being caught red-handed stealing luxury items in notoriously strict Singapore. The pair, Kapadia Husain Zoher, 35, and Kapadia Amatullah, 30, were arrested on June 23 after stealing from designer shops at Changi Airport. Authorities said the couple, who are both US nationals, stole more than $750 of upmarket items from Louis Vuitton and Dior at the airport before trying to board their jet. They made it all the way to their seats on a flight set for Mumbai before airport police hauled them away. Cops said that CCTV from inside the airport captured the couple in the act, and both were swiftly prosecuted and subsequently pleaded guilty to theft. Zoher was handed an 18-day jail sentence and his wife was sentenced to a week behind bars for the brazen shoplifting. State Prosecuting Officer (SPO) Ng Chee Wee argued at their sentencing that Zoher 'had stolen out of greed. 'He had a habit of overspending, and he did not want to pay,' the prosecutor said. Authorities said the couple's shoplifting spree began around 5pm after they entered Changi Airport's terminal 1. They were seen on CCTV targeting a Louis Vuitton store first, where Zoher stole a credit card holder worth $600. The couple then moved to Terminal 3 around 5:40pm and went to Cosmetics & Perfumes by The Shilla, a designer store. Zoher then took a bottle of Dior Sauvage perfume worth around $160 and slipped it into his pocket, with prosecutors saying he had his wife act as a lookout.
Reuters
6 hours ago
- Reuters
US jury deadlocks on Tornado Cash founder's money laundering charge
NEW YORK, August 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. jury deadlocked on Wednesday on money laundering and sanctions evasion charges against the founder of Tornado Cash, opens new tab, a firm that makes cryptocurrency transactions harder to track. The jury in Manhattan federal court could not reach a verdict on charges Roman Storm conspired to launder the proceeds of hacks, including by a sanctioned North Korean government-backed group. But the jury found him guilty of the less serious charge of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. He faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Katherine Failla at a later date. The money laundering and sanctions evasion conspiracy charges each carried possible 20-year sentences. Storm was arrested in 2023 on charges that the so-called mixer he founded helped hide more than $1 billion, including hundreds of millions of dollars for Pyongyang-backed hacking group Lazarus Group, which is blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury over its alleged financial support of North Korea. Storm, 36, had pleaded not guilty to all three felony charges he faced. In his closing argument on July 30 after a two-week trial in Manhattan federal court, defense lawyer David Patton said even though Tornado Cash's privacy tools may have been useful to criminals, Storm's intent was not to help conceal illicit funds. "There is nothing unlawful about the software that he built," Patton said. "The evidence here shows that Roman very much did not want hackers and scammers to use Tornado Cash." Prosecutor Benjamin Gianforti said Storm had been informed multiple times between 2020 and 2022 that Tornado Cash was helping criminals hide dirty money, but kept running the business out of greed. Gianforti said Tornado Cash's emphasis on user privacy was a "cover story." "The real money wasn't in protecting privacy for regular folks, it was in providing privacy for big time crypto criminals," Gianforti said. "Hackers were his best customers." Tornado Cash had itself been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury under then-President Joe Biden's Democratic administration over its alleged support of North Korea. The Treasury lifted those sanctions in March, two months into Republican President Donald Trump's administration, saying it had reviewed legal and policy issues raised by the sanctions within "evolving technology and legal environments." Last year, one of Tornado Cash's developers, Alexey Pertsev, was sentenced to five years and four months in prison in the Netherlands for money laundering.
