Number of complaints against iCon Group surges to 504
Total losses suffered by victims estimated at THB178 million
As of Sunday, the number of people filing complaints against the iCon Group had risen to 504 with reported damage amounting to 178 million baht, PM’s Office Minister Jiraporn Sindhuprai said.
Jiraporn said on Sunday that the number was based on the figures as of Sunday morning after police officers and officials from the Office of the Consumers Protection Board interrogated many victims at the Central Investigation Bureau throughout Sunday night.
On Saturday CIB deputy commissioner Pol Maj-General Sopon Sarapat, said that on Saturday alone 235 people had filed complaints with the CIB, accusing the iCon Group of Warathaphon Waratyaworrakul of deceiving them.
The CIB started receiving complaints against the iCon Group since Thursday. The victims alleged that they had suffered losses of 178 million baht in an alleged pyramid scheme disguised as MLM (multilevel marketing) direct sales business.
Sopon said the CIB had sought cooperation from police stations nationwide to receive complaints from people in provinces so that they did not have to travel to Bangkok.
At the CIB head office, 70 CIB officers were on stand-by to interrogate the victims of the alleged pyramid scheme .
Sopon said the CIB has obtained search warrants from court to search the iCon Group head office and offices of other firms of the iCon Group and was also checking nine warehouses in Bangkok and Thanyaburi district of Pathum Thani province. Searches have been going on since Thursday.
Victims of the alleged scheme came out to file complaints with police after the popular TV talk show, “Hone Krase” (Going with the Current) dropped a hint that a high-profile MLM direct-sale firm with leading entertainers as presenters and CEOs would face charges soon for deceiving the public.
The programme later invited victims of the scheme to talk on TV and a YouTube broadcast. They disclosed that the firm, with support from leading entertainers, had lured its victims by offering a super cheap online marketing course costing less than 100 baht.
The victims were later coerced to invest in buying supplementary food products to resell in three packages – 2,500 baht, 25,000 baht and 250,0000 baht. They said they were coerced to go for the 250,000 level so that they could invite more ‘resellers” under their line of command and they were promised 25,000 baht for each new recruit.
The victims alleged that the firm’s instructors told them to focus on recruiting new members, not on selling the products.
On Saturday, iCon Group CEO Warathaphon met interrogators at the CIB and denied his firm had run a pyramid scheme. After interrogation, Warathaphon was allowed to leave without being arrested.
Sopon explained that police could not yet arrest Warathaphon because investigators were still looking for strong evidence and witnesses to seek an arrest warrant against him.
Sopon added that no formal charge had been pressed against the iCon CEO yet, but he was informed that he could be charged with violations of the Emergency Decree On Borrowings Which Are Regarded As Public Cheating And Fraud, BE 2527 (1984).
Sopon added that the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) was also conducting a parallel investigation with the CIB in the case after PM’s Office Minister Jiraporn Sindhuprai invited representatives of the Royal Thai Police, DSI, Anti-Money Laundering Office and Office of the Consumer Protection Board to a meeting on Friday and asked them to speed up the probe.
