Thai actress and mother held on remand in alleged Ponzi scheme scandal

[webfact]

 

Entertainment celebrity Savika Chaiyadej, aka “Pinky”, and her mother Sarinya were among 19 people indicted on criminal charges today (Thursday) by public prosecutors, for allegedly defrauding the public and violations of Computer Crime Act, in a foreign exchange futures investment scam, known as Forex-3D.

 

The two accused posted land titles deeds as surety for their bail applications, but the court rejected their request for fear that they may try to flee. After the hearing, they were escorted to a prison to be held on remand.

 

The investment scam, which was in fact a Ponzi scheme, offered investors returns of up to 80% on their investments. About 14,000 people were duped into investing in the scheme, to the value of an estimated 1.9 billion baht, according to the Department of Special Investigation.

 

Full story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thai-actress-and-mother-held-on-remand-in-alleged-ponzi-scheme-scandal/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-08-19

 

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[RichardColeman]

3 hours ago, webfact said:

After the hearing, they were escorted to a prison to be held on remand.

Funny, if she had allowed 17 odd people to die in a night club she'd be walking free now. Thailand proving its criminal priorities are money based again in my opinion

Edited August 18, 2022 by RichardColeman

[Shuya]

The amount of greed and stupidity in a society must be on an advanced level for a Ponzi scheme to work. 

[2baht]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

About 14,000 people were duped

There's a sucker born every minute! 80% return, yeah right! ????

[HappyExpat57]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

"returns of up to 80% on their investments. About 14,000 people were duped"

Hard to believe THAT many people never heard

 

"If it's too good to be true . . ."

[Excel]

1 minute ago, HappyExpat57 said:

Hard to believe THAT many people never heard

 

"If it's too good to be true . . ."

Greed has unlimited boundaries.

[klauskunkel]

Thai actress = screamer on TV

[worgeordie]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

offered investors returns of up to 80% on their investments.

Greed gets them every time , 

regards worgordie

[ThailandRyan]

When roles start to dry up and you still need to live the same lifestyle you unforunately involve yourself in schemes to keep the money rolling in.  I have only met but a handful of Thai's who prepare for the future when life changes.  Instead they buy everything they can because as they say "I can always sell it and have money", sometimes that works while other times the amount they want is unrealistic and greed keeps them from monetizing their assets.  Ergo why some believe an 80% return is available.  Maybe an 80% return for the amount you invested, thus loosing you20%.

[ezzra]

Lucky me i didn't invest, i don't invest unless i get 100% return on my investment...

[lujanit]

41 minutes ago, ezzra said:

Lucky me i didn't invest, i don't invest unless i get 100% return on my investment...

daily.

[Why Me]

1 hour ago, ThailandRyan said:

When roles start to dry up and you still need to live the same lifestyle you unforunately involve yourself in schemes to keep the money rolling in.

Point taken. But aren't these top actresses all married to multimillionaires? I am guessing mommy was paid massively to pressure daughter into being celebrity bait.

[Purdey]

What Thais call "len share" has been around forever. It isn't simply greed but Thais have so few opportunities to make decent money the returns look attractive and if friends invest, they feel more secure. Using a famous person means, to investors, that it must be trustworthy. 

There are many stories of successful investors circulating and in the first round many will be happy. They just can't imagine how it will end. |e|

[thaiowl]

Looks like they spent their money wisely!

"Today, the DSI handed over assets worth about 230 million baht, seized from the investment company and its alleged ring leader, Apirak Kotethi, to the Anti-Money Laundering Office for safe keeping, before it is returned to the victims of the scam. The assets consist of 173 items which include 14 cars, 12 land title deeds, 11 go-karts, 9 expensive car number plates, wristwatches, 54 sets of fitness equipment and gold ornaments."

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

The investment scam, which was in fact a Ponzi scheme, offered investors returns of up to 80% on their investments. About 14,000 people were duped into investing in the scheme, to the value of an estimated 1.9 billion baht, according to the Department of Special Investigation.

Wow... wonder where the money is stashed?

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Funny, if she had allowed 17 odd people to die in a night club she'd be walking free now. Thailand proving its criminal priorities are money based again in my opinion

Always has been.

[Artisi]

54 minutes ago, thaiowl said:

Looks like they spent their money wisely!

"Today, the DSI handed over assets worth about 230 million baht, seized from the investment company and its alleged ring leader, Apirak Kotethi, to the Anti-Money Laundering Office for safe keeping, before it is returned to the victims of the scam. The assets consist of 173 items which include 14 cars, 12 land title deeds, 11 go-karts, 9 expensive car number plates, wristwatches, 54 sets of fitness equipment and gold ornaments."

Did the cars come from Joe and the watches from Toadie?

[greenmonkey]

you can talk til you are blue in the face telling people here not to invest as it is a ponzi scheme and they simply will not have it. So many times my wife's family will tell us that they are involved in something like this and that we should get on board (obviously MLM) too... we hear about how great it is and I will explain how these things work (i.e. ponzi scheme = losing all your money) and they look at me like I am crazy. Everytime they will choose to ignore any advice given and instead entrust their cash to a complete stranger! Unbelievable.

 

And the reason these culprits will not be allowed to flee is not because the officials want to punish them and get the money back to the public... the officials simply want their share. The public that lost their money will not see a penny back!

[prakhonchai nick]

2 hours ago, thaiowl said:

Looks like they spent their money wisely!

"Today, the DSI handed over assets worth about 230 million baht, seized from the investment company and its alleged ring leader, Apirak Kotethi, to the Anti-Money Laundering Office for safe keeping, before it is returned to the victims of the scam. The assets consist of 173 items which include 14 cars, 12 land title deeds, 11 go-karts, 9 expensive car number plates, wristwatches, 54 sets of fitness equipment and gold ornaments."

Once the teams of lawyers have done their due diligence over the 14,000 "investors", there won't be anything left to share out- apart from amongst themselves!

[Songkhla Sam]

4 hours ago, lujanit said:

daily.

As Will Rogers was famously quoted as saying .  “ I am more concerned with the return OF my Investment than the return ON my investment 

[radiochaser]

7 hours ago, 2baht said:

There's a sucker born every minute! 80% return, yeah right! ????

I have had an 80% return before. 

Gave a guy $100.00, got an $80.00 return!  ????

OK, OK, I'll go away quietly.

[scorecard]

8 hours ago, HappyExpat57 said:

Hard to believe THAT many people never heard

 

"If it's too good to be true . . ."

 Agreed, however about 4 years gao our neighbor (married to a farang) told my Thai son she was going to a meeting that evening to get in quick on a very high return investment op. Next day she confirmed/she showed a scrawled receipt for 500,000Baht. 

 

Receipt showed no details at all of who/what entity received the money, signature unreadable.

 

No big dividend as promised at end of 30 days, nor 60, nor 90 days.

 

Neighbor tells my Thai son her farang husband has noticed 500,000Baht missing from bankbooks. He calls the police. Police come and quickly tell them they already have 40 / 50 names of other people scammed. No leads whatever.

 

Farang approaches a lawyer he's used before and who he trusts. Lawyer laughs and says 'forget it, the scam operators will never be found and there's a 50-50 chance they have paid to be 'untraceable' and never found'.

 

The twist; the Thai lady is a retired lawyer, practiced law for 30 years. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by scorecard

[dj230]

This is one of the reasons I love Thailand, the police actually hold people accountable. 

 

 

10 hours ago, 2baht said:

There's a sucker born every minute! 80% return, yeah right! ????

Surprisingly 80% returns isn't out of the norm if you know how to invest your money, is it guaranteed, no, but you can make some pretty high probable investments that will net those returns and limit downside risk to near 0.

 

If you look at US equities, there were a few almost guaranteed opportunities to make 50-100% returns in a short period, it already passed though. These opportunities only come very rarely, chances are you'll get 1-2 chances a year max, sometimes none at all that year. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by dj230

[2baht]

28 minutes ago, dj230 said:

This is one of the reasons I love Thailand, the police actually hold people accountable. 

 

 

Surprisingly 80% returns isn't out of the norm if you know how to invest your money, is it guaranteed, no, but you can make some pretty high probable investments that will net those returns and limit downside risk to near 0.

 

If you look at US equities, there were a few almost guaranteed opportunities to make 50-100% returns in a short period, it already passed though. These opportunities only come very rarely, chances are you'll get 1-2 chances a year max, sometimes none at all that year. 

Sounds too good to be true!

[dj230]

1 hour ago, 2baht said:

Sounds too good to be true!

Well if there is another opportunity if I remember I will post about it, not so people invest but just to show it can be done. It's very rare for these opportunities to come about but all you have to do is invest in a great company (good balance sheet, good revenue growth, management, product, profitability etc.) that's stock price crashes during a market down turn. All stock prices will go down significantly during a market downturn, which means you can buy companies stock at extreme discounts even if nothing is wrong with the company. 

 

One example would have been buying Tesla stock which went up 50% in a month or two, nothing was wrong with Tesla but the market just had a downturn. Lots of growth stocks that have higher returns, they get sold off into prices that are so low it makes no sense due to margin calls/liquidations, not because anyone wants to sell the stock but because they have to. It's kind of like bargain hunting houses in foreclosures. 

 

Edited August 19, 2022 by dj230

[peterfranks]

2 hours ago, dj230 said:

If you look at US equities, there were a few almost guaranteed opportunities to make 50-100% returns in a short period, it already passed though.

Yeah, in hindsight everything can be realised

[Sparktrader]

2 hours ago, dj230 said:

This is one of the reasons I love Thailand, the police actually hold people accountable. 

 

 

Surprisingly 80% returns isn't out of the norm if you know how to invest your money, is it guaranteed, no, but you can make some pretty high probable investments that will net those returns and limit downside risk to near 0.

 

If you look at US equities, there were a few almost guaranteed opportunities to make 50-100% returns in a short period, it already passed though. These opportunities only come very rarely, chances are you'll get 1-2 chances a year max, sometimes none at all that year. 

Small caps can go up 100% in 2 weeks. Risky though. Opportunities every month. Hard to see them unless u follow 1000 stocks which is near impossible without a 10 member team.

 

 

[2baht]

1 hour ago, dj230 said:

It's very rare

So are hen's teeth!

[dj230]

1 hour ago, Sparktrader said:

Small caps can go up 100% in 2 weeks. Risky though. Opportunities every month. Hard to see them unless u follow 1000 stocks which is near impossible without a 10 member team.

 

 

Small caps can also go down 50% in 2 weeks, really high risk. It's much more profitable to go for low risk, high probability trades with the chance of high returns (not guaranteed) in my opinion. 

 

1 hour ago, peterfranks said:

Yeah, in hindsight everything can be realised

This is the typical response, it's actually quite easy to realize at the time as well, many calculations can be done to tell when a company is undervalued. It's no different than buying $100 bills on eBay for $50. 

Edited August 19, 2022 by dj230

[peterfranks]

7 minutes ago, dj230 said:

1 hour ago, peterfranks said:

Yeah, in hindsight everything can be realised

This is the typical response, it's actually quite easy to realize at the time as well, many calculations can be done to tell when a company is undervalued. It's no different than buying $100 bills on eBay for $50. 

So let me guess, you live in Monaco or some other place where only millionaires live, because each time you have seen the opportunity, and almost doubled your net worth, by putting all your money on those stocks?

Edited August 19, 2022 by peterfranks