A retired British pensioner, Simon Charles Hill, 68, was left homeless in Bangkok after being targeted by a romance scam in which fraudsters posed online as an American woman named "Emily Smith." Mr Hill, a former UN flight operator who had lived comfortably in Thailand on his state pension for 11 years, began transferring money after the fictitious woman claimed she needed help paying fees to release a $3million inheritance. The case highlights the devastating financial and personal toll such scams can inflict on isolated, elderly expatriates living abroad.

Over roughly five months, Mr Hill made seven or eight transfers, sending his entire monthly pension of around £500 as well as his savings, before he ran out of money, lost his flat and could no longer afford food. He was eventually found frail and sleeping in a Bangkok hotel lobby by the charity Bangkok Community Help Foundation, which discovered he had also overstayed his visa. The charity, led by co-founder Friso Poldervaart, sheltered him at its "Centre of Dreams" facility, helped him avoid detention or imprisonment, and arranged his flight home to the UK, where he is now recovering.