‘Successful’ iCon Group dealers rally in support of company
Protesters claim they have had no trouble selling the products and have not had to recruit new members as claimed by the complainants
A lawyer representing the owner of iCon Group, which is accused of operating a Ponzi scheme, led dozens of “dealers” of the company’s products to rally outside Government House.
They demanded that all legal action against iCon Group be dropped.
The group of protesters claiming to have done well by becoming resellers of iCon Group’s products were led by Withoon Keng-ngan, the lawyer of iCon Group CEO Warathaphon “Boss Paul” Waratyaworrakul. The group showed up at Government House to file a complaint addressed to Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, asking her to intervene as allegations against the iCon Group were stopping them from conducting their business normally.
They said reports against the group published online and reported on television had prompted customers to cancel their orders.
On Tuesday, the Consumers Protection Division of the Central Investigation Bureau said the number of victims that have filed complaints against the company has surged to over 1,500, claiming damages of more than 400 million baht.
The victims told police that they were lured by a cheap online market course, only to be coerced into investing 250,000 baht to become dealers of iCon Group’s products, which could not be sold.
They said they were then advised to make up their losses by recruiting more members and getting them to invest more so they could earn a share from their investment.
As for those rallying in support of iCon Group, they said that the products were easy to sell and they did not have to recruit new members as alleged.
However, they claimed their business was being affected because customers were cancelling orders due to negative news and legal cases.
A dealer said that those who could not sell their products did not work hard enough and did not follow the advice provided by the company. He also said he had not been paid to come out in support of the company.
