German man arrested in Thai girl fiddle

A German man faces up to seven years in a Bangkok jail for fraudulently receiving money from American Don Juans who thought he was a Thai woman looking for romance.

Rudiger Reischert, 50, - aka Thaee Maiyuran - used online singles clubs and lonely hearts services to con men into sending money for "her" to travel to West and meet them.

The money was supposed to be used for visas and flights.

Reischert managed to swindle at least 500,000 baht (£12,200) from guys interested in Thaee. He was rumbled by police earlier this week after an American contacted the authorities when Thaee failed to show up, according to AFP.

Details of the scam are also detailed at allcities.net/thailand/thai-scam/which warns potential male suitors to stay away.

It's not known whether the warning was published before police arrested Reischert.

"Thaee Maiyuran of Bangkok suspected of running a scam!," screams the warning.

"The scam involves singles ads by Thaee and maybe a friend Gun, whereby men inticed (sic)to ask her to visit him in the US, and wire funds to The Thai German Consult, supposedly for a visa and round trip air fare.

"Trouble is, the visa is never applied for and the money is gone, and the man never hears from Thaee again," it says.

The Geocities home page used by Thaee is now listed "under construction". ®