A retired Australian police officer with a 30-year career, lost nearly 40 million Thai baht (approximately $1.2 million) after falling victim to a cryptocurrency scam in Thailand.
The scammer, a Phuket-based German national named Alex, targeted the victim Michael Reinecke by building a relationship with him over social media. Over the course of a year, Alex introduced him to various crypto investment opportunities during in-person meetings and eventually persuaded him to transfer his life savings.
According to reports, Alex presented Reinecke with dashboards and charts that supposedly demonstrated the potential for 5%-10% monthly returns. However, after receiving the payment, Alex said that the website had crashed. Reinecke pressed Alex, who then revealed that he had misplaced his phone. Alex promptly ceased all communication with Michael.
After realizing that he was probably scammed, Reinecke filed a formal report to the Mueang Udon Thani Police Station, supported by his wife, Areerat Noonyat, and his lawyer, Kritsada Lohitdee, better known as Lawyer Nobi. Reinecke and his wife had saved all this money to purchase a home and establish a cafe.
Online crypto scams on the rise
The number of online crypto scams is on the rise globally. Last week, a scammer posed as a senior UK police officer and stole Bitcoin (BTC) worth approximately $2.8 million in Wales. Additionally, scammers have been targeting celebrities’ social media accounts for pump-and-dump scams.
Last month, CertiK, a blockchain security firm noted that crypto investors lost more than $2.47 billion to hacks and scams in H1 2025, surpassing all of 2024. Ethereum was the most affected chain, with $1.5B lost across 164 incidents.
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