A Glamorous Thai YouTuber who allegedly scammed victims out of £47million has been arrested in Indonesia - after cops noticed she could not sing their national anthem.

Bikini-clad Natthamon Khongchak, 32, fled in August 2022 when a mass investment scheme collapsed and more than 6,000 suspected victims filed complaints in Bangkok, Thailand.

The model - whose nickname was Nutty - posed as a foreign exchange trader while living the high life with cash - flaunting swimwear, designer bags and trips abroad in luxury hotels.

But when the scheme unravelled, fled to Kuala Lumpur with her secretary Nichapat Ratananukrom before taking a boat to a remote Indonesian island, where her mother later joined her.

Natthamon was allegedly applying for an Indonesian passport this month - which would have allowed her to travel internationally - when immigration officials became suspicious of her accent.

They reportedly asked her to sing the national anthem and the recite country's constitution but she failed.

Police said she then broke down under interrogation and admitted she had entered the country illegally.

Further checks with bungling officials in Thailand - who had initially allowed her to slip through the net - revealed she was a fugitive wanted for the mass investment scam worth at least 47 million GBP.

Natthamon's mother was also arrested in Indonesia and they were deported to Thailand. They arrived back in Bangkok today and were remanded in custody, facing lengthy jail terms.

Speaking to the media, Natthamon claimed she had turned herself in.

She said: ‘It was not my intention to run away. I never thought of that. I surrendered to the police. I want to apologise to everyone for what I have done. I want to apologize for bringing shame on the country.'

Speaking today, Police Lieutenant General Thatchai Pitaneelabut, Assistant Commissioner-General of the Royal Thai Police, said: ‘The suspect has been arrested for a financial fraud involving stock trading with damages of more than two billion Baht.

‘It has been found that the three suspects fled Thailand through natural channels in the southern region in 2022 before hiding in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

‘Later, she illegally entered Indonesia through Batam Island, which is an island and city in the province of Kepulau Wan Riau, before travelling to Dumai City with other people helping them escape before being arrested in Dumai City, Riau Province, on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia on October 2, 2024.

‘She is currently under investigation and will be sent to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) for legal action.'

Natthamon ran a YouTube channel with more than 800,000 subscribers where she regularly shared trading tips, posing as a foreign exchange trader.

Her Instagram was awash with videos showcasing the star's luxury lifestyle, including her visiting tropical beaches, posing with expensive cars and taking part in dance classes.

But lawyers representing the alleged victims filed multiple complaints with prosecutors. They claim she has used her influence on social media platforms to lure victims into investing money with the promise of quick returns of 35 per cent but not paying out.

Phaisal Ruangri, a lawyer who campaigns to help fraud victims, said there are around 6,000 victims who have allegedly been fleeced of more than 47 million GBP.

He claimed one investor had deposited as much as 423,000 GBP with Natthamon and was yet to receive any returns.

He said: ‘The investors trusted her because she was a popular YouTube star with almost a million subscribers.

‘She used her popularity to trick her followers. On social media, she displayed her wealth, with holidays, designer clothes, handbags, and cars. Her fans believed she was a successful businesswoman.'

Natthamon's scheme began to unravel in April 2022, when investors began claiming they had not received the return they had been promised.

A month later, Natthamon stated in an Instagram post that she had made a mistake in trading and lost all the money – promising she would pay back her investors.
At the time she told her loyal followers that she would not be able to repay other investors if she was jailed.

Speaking to local media, one of the victims said that she had lost the equivalent of 42,000 GBP from the apparent scam.

‘I was saving this money to send my children to university,' she said.

‘I thought that the money Nutty promised would help us live a more comfortable life. Now I am sick with worry as I've lost everything.'

According to the arrest warrant Natthamon and her secretary Nichapat Ratananukrom were wanted ‘for together defrauding people'.

They are accused ‘advertising or announcing to the public of money borrowing where the pay benefits rates are higher than the highest interest rate that a financial institution can pay'.