A weight-conscious British tourist was allegedly scammed by a foreign gang selling weight loss herbs in Thailand.

Malcolm Campbell, 63, from Staffordshire, said he was walking through a market when he was approached by two Arabic men in the Thai 'Sin City' Pattaya on March 19.

The pair told him he 'looked fat' before allegedly pushing him to buy two bottles of the fat-burning concoction for 41,000 Baht (around 950 GBP).

However, Malcolm later realised he had been fleeced when he called his Thai girlfriend to tell her about the purchase.

The woman, familiar with the tourist-scamming gangs in the area, said the mixture of honey and herbs was overpriced. She then dragged the shocked Brit to the police station to file a report.

Speaking at the station, Malcolm said: 'I was stopped by men who said they were from Dubai and they said I'll give you some stuff to make you lose weight.

'They took me to a 7-Eleven, made me buy two honey, they put it in a bottle, mixed it with some powder they got from another shop a bit further down about 30 yards down from the 7-Eleven. They mixed it all up and then they asked for money, 41,000 Baht.

'They took me to a bank to get the money out. They stayed with me while I kept trying to get the money out. Not enough money in the account but they still kept trying.'

Malcolm's Thai girlfriend added: 'They took him to the bank because he said he had no money. They told him to put the PIN number to get the money. They tried and tried again to get 20,000 Baht.'

Police Lieutenant Manasak Ponyiam of the Pattaya City Police Station said the case was later resolved after the suspected scammers agreed to return the money.

He said: 'We recorded the incident in our daily log and dispatched investigators to the scene with the victim. 

'At the store, the door was locked and no one was inside, so we asked neighbouring establishments to contact the owner to speak with the victim. The owner arrived with the group of foreigners and agreed to reimburse the victim before they parted ways.'

(1 GBP = 43.81 THB)