is it safe to live alone as a teenage foreigner?

For context, I (F17) am half English/Thai living in England and im going to be an international student at MUIC. If I like it, I want to stay in Thailand and live there afterwards.

My Thai mum (who grew up in Thailand) has heavily advised that I don’t do this. She keeps telling me that I don’t know what Thai people are like and that I will be very vulnerable to people who will befriend me and then scam me or worse because im foreign and I don’t speak Thai fluently yet (but im learning still)

This might be complete nonsense and I don’t mean any disrespect by this post but I would like to know if this is actually something that occurs and could be a threat to me. im sure my mum was exaggerating but i would like to see if anyone else has some input. Thank you !!