Three Thai celebrities among 18 arrested for huge fraud scheme
Several famous Thai celebrities are reportedly among the 18 suspects arrested for participating in a huge fraud scheme organized by e-commerce company The iCon Group.
According to a report by Thai news outlet Bangkok Post, television host Kan Kantathavorn, actor Sam Yuranunt Pamornmontri, and actress Peechaya Watanamamontree were all involved in a high-profile pyramid scheme where they received huge payments from the company for enticing victims to sign up for the scheme.
After authorities investigated their financial records, they found that Kan had 33 money transfers from The iCon Group into his bank account since 2021. The money he received totaled 79.48 million baht (P135 million).
Compared to Kan's high number of money transfers, Pechaya only received nine since 2023, totaling 11.39 million baht (P19 million) while Yuranunt received 3.19 million baht (P5.4 million) from three transfers since last year.
A source familiar with the investigation told the news outlet that the payments the celebrities received were part of The iCon Group's revenue.
However, the group clarified on their social media pages that Kan, Peechaya, and Yuranunt are "not authorized signatories according to the company's certificate and are not shareholders of the company in any way."
"They are merely assistants in marketing the products of The iCon Group," they said, according to the translation of their statement.
The suspects were first arrested on Oct. 16 after nearly 5,600 fraud complaints were filed against the company, which had celebrities, influencers, and stars acting as "bosses" to promote online product sales. This includes founder and CEO Warathaphon "Boss Paul" Waratyaworrakul.
They are facing charges of violating the Law on Loan Amounting to Public Cheating and Fraud (also known as the pyramid scheme law) and the Direct Sales and Marketing Act in addition to public fraud and computer crime charges. While they denied these violations, they have since been remanded in custody.
The way the scheme works is that the company tricked people into enrolling in their online sales courses by offering cheap prices, but once they have applied, they were asked for more money to buy products as well as to help advertise for new recruits.
Reuters detailed that the ploy resulted in investors losing at least 1.61 billion baht (P2.74 billion). Police have now seized assets worth 225 million baht from the alleged perpetrators, including 29 cars, three houses, and luxury watches.
Withoon Kengngan, a lawyer for the company, insisted that there was no fraud and that they are "fighting the case because this is a real business, selling products online through direct marketing."