Hundreds of workers were reportedly abandoned at an airport over a fraudulent job scam in Australia.

Around 50 representatives carrying their suitcases arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport Police Station in Samut Prakan, Thailand, to file reports with police officers on January 4 at 9 pm, after nearly 250 Thai workers fell victim to the scam.

The job seekers had transferred money to a woman named Aoy, 28, who claimed to be an employment agent offering job placements abroad.

However, their booking details could not be found in the airport's database, despite their claims of being scheduled to fly around 10 pm that evening.

One victim, Salinthip from Buriram, said her son had found an agricultural job offering a high salary. She paid Aoy 60,000 baht (1,429 GBP) as requested. Upon arrival at the airport, Salinthip discovered her booking was invalid.

Another victim, Thanayuth, stated that he transferred 120,000 baht (2,858 GBP) to Aoy and travelled from Sakhon Nakhon to the airport, expecting to work abroad for a monthly salary of 70,000 baht (1,667 GBP). He was told to pay a total of 200,000 baht (4,763 GBP), with the remaining amount to be deducted from his future salary.

Upon discovering their booking details were not found, Aoy began to suspect something was wrong.

She then decided to bring the victims to the police station for further investigation, suspecting that she, too, had been deceived.

Aoy claimed she had been approached by a person named Fah, who allegedly asked her to recruit workers for jobs in Australia, promising her a commission of 2,000 baht (47 GBP) for each worker she found.

After receiving the money, Aoy said she handed over cheques and documents to Fah, who posed as an employee of the Australian Embassy in Thailand.

She reportedly transferred over 12 million baht (285,815 GBP) from around 250 victims to Fah.

Police Captain Chanathan Promraksa of Suvarnabhumi Airport Police Station said: 'Normally, victims have to file a report at the police station where they transferred the money from.

'However, due to the large amount of damage and the number of victims, we suggested they report at the Crime Suppression Division for the convenience of making the case file.'

Government deputy spokesman Karom Ponpornklang stated that the Department of Employment and the Ministry of Labour were assisting the victims in filing complaints with the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division of the Crime Investigation Bureau.

Karom said: 'Thai people wanting to work abroad need to go there legally and should check carefully before handing their money over to brokers.

'Overseas job agencies must be approved by the Department of Labour.'

(1 baht = 0.024 GBP)