The iCon Group under probe for exploitative business practices

The Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB) has been tasked with investigating The iCon Group, a direct sales company suspected of using celebrities to lure the public into buying its beauty and healthcare products for resale.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Jiraporn Sindhuprai, minister attached to the PM Office, which supervises the OCPB, said the office will work with the Department of Special Investigation, Anti-Money Laundering Office and the police to look into the operations of The iCon Group.

The company reportedly uses celebrities to advertise its online business courses at cheap prices, boasting they will help generate additional income, before persuading attendees to recruit new members and buy its products for resale.

Complaints about the company’s dubious operations began surfacing earlier this week when some of the resellers turned to social media influencers for help after they reportedly took loans or sold their assets to meet the sales quota set by the company. Some even became bankrupt and lost their assets.

Jiraporn said officials will carefully check to see if the company’s business operations violated related laws, including the 2002 Direct Sale and Direct Marketing Act and the 1979 Consumer Protection Act.

She said that upon learning about the consumer complaints, the OCPB revoked the award it had presented to The iCon Group in 2022 for donating alcohol sanitisers and facemasks to the public during the Covid-19 outbreak.

On Wednesday, the Royal Thai Police announced that it would establish a joint task force between the Central Investigation Bureau and the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau to look into the company’s business operations and finances.

The Consumer Protection Police Division has also set up a centre to accept complaints from victims who have suffered damages from The iCon Group’s business practices.