Seminar fraud bill tally ‘B2bn’
About 200 people yesterday petitioned the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to probe a case in which they were lured into investing money in seminar packages, with total losses believed to have reached two billion baht.
The petition was submitted to Pol Capt Wisanu Chimtrakul, a DSI official specialising in consumer and environmental protection.
According to their petition, around 40,000 people across the country fell prey to two companies providing packages of investment seminars.
The firms were identified as The System Plug and Play Co and Innovision Holding Co.
Samart Jenchaijitawanit, president of the Stop Money Game Association, who took the group to lodge the petition, said the companies have an authorised director, Phudis Kittitharadilok, who promised a 30% yield on their investment each month.
The companies provided five kinds of membership packages for seminars (4,500, 9,000, 18,000, 36,000 and 108,000 baht).
Once a member paid for a package, he or she would receive a 7% return every week, lasting for a year, Mr Samart said, citing the companies.
Mr Phudis also offered a campaign in which members who persuaded others to buy the packages would also receive a 5% commission and the rate would rise according to the number of buyers they invited, he said.
Those who invested in the initial period were found to have reaped the benefits as advertised and this drew a large number of people to join later, Mr Samart noted.
He said there were around 40,000 victims across the country and they invested more than two billion baht in total. The companies stopped paying dividends in July last year.
A 56-year-old businesswoman, Kanya, who asked not to give her family name, said she knew the companies through a friend.
She said her family initially did not trust the firms but she changed her mind after attending an event where Mr Phudis, who claimed to be a doctor, persuaded people to join.
She said she invested 200,000 baht and received 7,500 baht a week later.
She put more money in the scheme until her investment reached five million baht.
In May last year, the company asked to gradually cut the payouts, and the payments subsequently stopped two months later, Ms Kanya said.
The company could not be reached when she tried to make contact.
Pol Capt Wisanu said the DSI will look into the complaint to decide whether to accept it as a special case, based on the type of offence, damage and complexity.