Thai celebrities among 18 arrested for pyramid scheme

Bangkok — 

Thai constabulary person arrested 18 people, including 3 celebrities, and seized luxury sports cars and millions of dollars successful transportation with a pyramid strategy selling wellness and dietary supplements, officers said Thursday.

The arrests came aft much than 1,000 radical filed online fraud allegations against The iCon Group, a institution they said had lured them into buying products and making fiscal commitments.

The company's laminitis and CEO, Warathaphon "Boss Paul" Waratyaworrakul, was detained connected Wednesday on with a apical TV big and an histrion who had allegedly helped person victims to articulation the scheme.

Authorities said they had frozen $3.8 cardinal held successful the slope accounts of the company's 4 executives and confiscated luxury vehicles including Porsches and Ford Mustangs.

Police were looking into slope accounts and currency transfers linked to the suspects to find retired if immoderate much radical were involved, Thailand's constabulary main Kitrat Phanphet told reporters.

The institution allegedly lured its victims by offering inexpensive online income courses.

Once enrolled, it coerced them into making further purchases and fiscal commitments ranging from $75 to $7,500 which was utilized to advertise for caller recruits.

Some of the victims — who ranged from low-income workers to a high-earning footballer — had paid much than $18,000 to the company, according to section media. Police are yet to tally the full magnitude swindled.

Thailand is nary alien to nationalist fraud cases. A "Forex-3D" strategy past twelvemonth tricked thousands into investing successful a fake overseas speech trading platform.

The world's longest non-life sentence, according to the "Guinness Book of Records," was imposed connected Thai pyramid strategy fraudster Chamoy Thipyaso, who was jailed for 141,078 years successful 1989.

However she was released aft lone 8 years down bars contempt having conned immoderate members of the royal household.