House panel sets sights on Ponzi scams
Schemers use mass media to defraud
A House committee has expressed concern over scammers who use online media and mass media to lure victims to invest in Ponzi schemes.
Natcha Boonchai-insawad, a Move Forward Party MP and chairman of the House committee on mass communication, said it will invite the Thai Journalists Association and the Society for Online News Providers to crack down on Ponzi schemes that exploit online and mass media to attract victims.
Previously, the committee received thousands of complaints about a scammer setting up a cloud platform under the name “Storage City Ltd” to dupe people into investing in the project, before those responsible defrauded around 3,000 victims out of a total of 12 billion baht.
Storage City managed to build fake credibility by advertising the so-called high rewards that investors would receive on mainstream and social media.
Those running the project even introduced it to actors, singers and celebrities to capitalise on these de facto star endorsements.
Victims included teenagers, Mr Natcha said.
“Even though this company has been closed down and those responsible arrested, similar schemers continue to show up, so the committee will coordinate with the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) and the Justice Ministry to seize their property,” he said.
One victim said he poured 30,000 baht into the cloud project and…