PUBLISHED : 28 Oct 2024 at 04:52
More victims of The iCon Group pyramid scheme who live overseas have filed a complaint with the Consumer Protection Police Division, bringing the total number of victims to 9,469 as of Saturday, with losses totalling 2.9 billion baht.
Ittidet Thaneswatana, who represents overseas victims of The iCon Group, said victims have been found in nearly 20 countries and territories, including China, Hong Kong, Macau, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Luxembourg, Canada and the United States.
One of the victims is Nin, a Thai woman who runs a grocery store in Hong Kong, who joined the scheme after seeing one of the company’s billboards during a visit to Thailand. Upon joining the scheme, Nin paid 250,000 baht to her recruiter, who then encouraged her to recruit members to upgrade her status within the company.
She convinced several of her friends and relatives to sign up, only to encounter many issues such as missing products, unreasonably high prices, and lower profit shares and commissions. She and her friends and relatives have not been able to sell the products and ended up losing almost two million baht in total.
Mr Ittidet said another member of the scheme who lives in the United States also claimed massive losses as she was unable to sell the brand’s products, which she had ordered in big batches. The victim said she has had to give away hundreds of boxes of products from The iCon Group for free because the company has now lost its reputation and the products will soon expire.
Pol Lt Gen Akkaradet Phimonsri, assistant to the national police chief who leads the investigation into the case, said the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) will transfer the case to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) on Monday, as per the Special Case Investigation Act. The damages and number of victims means it qualifies for special case status.
Even after the case is transferred to the DSI, the police will continue to assist victims who wish to file other complaints, he said. As of Saturday, 9,469 victims have filed complaints with the police, with damages amounting to around 2.9 billion baht, according to Pol Lt Gen Akkaradet.