A Chinese woman found wrapped in adhesive tape inside a crashed Mercedes-Benz at the back of a Pattaya housing estate told police she had been lured there and robbed.

Police were called to Zensiri housing estate in Nong Prue about 1am on Monday. There they found a crashed Mercedes-Benz car and a blindfolded woman, Yang Wang, wrapped in adhesive tape and lying on the floor behind the front seats.

The 35-year-old woman told police she got to know a Chinese man named Gong Gaopeng, 30, via the WeChat platform, and he promised to show her a house for sale.

She drove her car to pick him up on Sukhumvit Pattaya 59 Road about 7.37pm on Sunday. At the housing estate the man showed her a house, and Ms Yang said she decided to buy it.

As she was driving out of the housing estate the man, who was sitting in the back seat, reached over and threatened her with a pair of scissors pointed at her waist. He ordered her to drive to the back of the housing estate. 

The man then wrapped her up with adhesive tape. He took her mobile phone and forced her to give him a password. The man then used the phone to transfer 6,996 yuan (31,469 baht) from her WeChat account to his account, she said.

At that moment, another person approached and told them they could not park the car there. The Chinese man was in the driver’s seat and tried to speed off, but instead crashed into a fence. The man then got out of the car and ran away, Ms Yang told police.

The police investigation was continuing.