The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) transferred to the DSI 18 boxes containing the complaints of 325 victims of the alleged pyramid scheme operated by the company, which promoted online sales of its products through its agents and their sellers, reports the Bangkok Post.
CIB Deputy Commissioner Pol Maj Gen Suwat Saengnum said there were more files in the case still to be handed over.
More than 9,500 complaints declaring losses totalling B2.9 billion related to the iCon business have been received from people in provinces nationwide and Thais overseas.
Pol Maj Gen Suwat said police investigators would continue working on the case until the DSI formally accepts it as a special case. He also promised full cooperation by police.
Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said earlier that letting the DSI take over the case would boost the effectiveness of the investigation.
All 18 suspects, each dubbed “boss” in the iCon marketing hierarchy, were arrested on Oct 16 after many people filed fraud complaints against the company, which sold health and dietary supplements.
All the suspects, including founder and CEO Warathaphon “Boss Paul” Waratyaworrakul have been charged with colluding in public fraud and putting false information into a computer system. Some are celebrities who received tens of millions of baht. They have all denied the charges.
Pol Maj Gen Suwat said police would press more charges as new evidence warrants, and so would the DSI, confirming that on Oct 22 police searched 11 more locations linked to the 18 company officers accused of public fraud, looking for additional evidence.
ISSUES
Ittidet Thaneswatana, who represents overseas victims of The iCon Group, said victims have been found in nearly 20 countries and territories, including China, Hong Kong, Macau, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Estonia, Luxembourg, Canada and the United States.
One of the victims is Nin, a Thai woman who runs a grocery store in Hong Kong, who joined the scheme after seeing one of the company’s billboards during a visit to Thailand. Upon joining the scheme, Nin paid B250,000 to her recruiter, who then encouraged her to recruit members to upgrade her status within the company.
She convinced several of her friends and relatives to sign up, only to encounter many issues such as missing products, unreasonably high prices and lower profit shares and commissions. She and her friends and relatives have not been able to sell the products and ended up losing almost B2 million in total.