Phuket ‘investors’ lose B7m in face cream scam

A group of fraud victims gathered at Phuket police station today (December 11) claiming they have lost between them some B7 million.

“We were invited to join the business by a woman who was our friend and colleague [in an office in Samkong],” said Chonticha Jampa-Ngern, 32, spokesperson of the group. She named the scam artist as Netwimon, also known as Kwan, 31.

“She invited one of us in April this year to invest money to buy a face cream called VIP. She told everyone that she had already had loads of orders but lacked the funds to buy the product, so she needed people to invest.

“As we understood it, this meant we did not have to sell the product ourselves; all we had to do was invest with her.”

Ms Chonticha said Ms Netwimon explained that a tube of the cream cost B1,400 and they would get back B1,650. They could invest as much as they wanted, Netwimon added.

“At the beginning there was only VIP cream and we got paid on time. Some months later, she told everyone that we had to increase our investment because she did not have enough money to buy all the cream she needed to meet demand.

“She also introduced a new product, a diet pill, and asked for more investment from us.

“We believed her because she showed us the products and she had always paid on time, so most of us increased our investment. Some of us even borrowed money to invest with her.

“But then she disappeared.”

Ms Chonticha said that Netwimon always contacted them using the Line smartphone app or through the Facebook page she used to sell product, but she abruptly stopped replying to any messages sent to her.

“There are around 20 people who will fight to get our money back and there are others who so far have not joined us.

“Some of the investors are people from our workplace and the others are all freinds or contacts of ours.

“Everyone joined initially because we trusted her. I want to warn everyone before joining a business like this to beware of fraud, even if the one who is inviting you is your friend,” she added.

Phuket News

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