Doctors diagnose an alleged scam among colleagues in tour agency scheme

[snoop1130]

Doctors diagnose an alleged scam among colleagues in tour agency scheme

By The Nation

 

 

Police have launched an investigation into an alleged scam after a female doctor and 12 other people, most of them also doctors, filed a police complaint against another doctor charging fraud. 

 

Damages cited in the complaint total about Bt64 million but it is believed that there are more victims.

 

Pol Colonel Somchai Phosuwan, a deputy investigator of Economic Crime Suppression Division, said Dr Nitcha Rutthapichairak, 30, an Air Force officer who works at a government hospital, had filed a complaint against a fellow doctor whose name was not revealed on Sunday.

 

In the complaint, the plaintiffs said the unnamed doctor had cheated them by encouraging them to invest in a tour company, claiming money was needed for the advance booking of rooms for Chinese tourists. The investors were allegedly told that the tourists were arriving in a big group and that the tour company needed initial capital to reserve the rooms.

 

The complaint states that doctor in question promised to pay investors 6 to 18percent returns per month.

 

However, the company failed to pay the promised returns, and when the plaintiffs queried the unnamed doctor about the issue, she did not answer and went missing from her house and office, the complaint states, concluding there was no other option other than going to the police.

 

Nitcha said she and the other 12 plaintiffs had filed the complaint on behalf of 38 victims. 

 

Reportedly the doctors were friends in high school, but had lost touch while at university and after graduation, only to reestablish contact again on Facebook. 

 

Somchai said he was gathering information from the plaintiffs, which should be completed by Friday. “If we conclude that there is fraud, we will summon the doctor for questioning,” he said.

 

Nitcha told reporters on Sunday that the tour company belonged to the boyfriend of the unnamed doctor and many friends in her professional circle, most of whom are doctors, were eager to invest in the firm because of its apparent profitability. 

 

“The investments ranged from Bt80,000 to Bt12 million. They decided to join the business partly because that doctor works at a wellknown government hospital,” she told reporters on Sunday.

 

She said the business was not a Ponzi scheme because investors did not have to recruit other members and their returns did not depend on the total number of investors.

 

Nitcha said that she had invested Bt500,000 in the scheme last August by depositing the money into the unnamed doctor’s bank account. From August until February, she received profits of Bt300,000, which she kept in the bank, raising her total investment to Bt1 million. However, she said, in March she stopped receiving returns and her Facebook friend disappeared.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/news/national/30312496

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-4-17

[clockman]

Caveat Emptor! or you cannot con an honest person?

[Bluespunk]

12 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

Reportedly the doctors were friends in high school, but had lost touch while at university and after graduation, only to reestablish contact again on Facebook. 

Ah, that FB thing once more raises its ugly head. 

Edited April 17, 2017 by Bluespunk

[brucec64]

Doctors are supposedly educated. Anyone who buys into an investment expecting 6 to 18 percent return a month deserves to be scammed.

Sent from my SM-J710F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Moonmoon]

2 minutes ago, brucec64 said:

Doctors are supposedly educated. Anyone who buys into an investment expecting 6 to 18 percent return a month deserves to be scammed.

Sent from my SM-J710F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Well some scams r believable becos for the 1st initial or 2nd returns payments r always on time as in this case. The report does not say so here but according to the interview in thai it was so.

After the trust has been gain and established. Bigger and more investments will be required and when the time comes and a big hefty amount has been pocketed, the scammer will disappear.

 

[janclaes47]

30 minutes ago, snoop1130 said:

She said the business was not a Ponzi scheme because investors did not have to recruit other members and their returns did not depend on the total number of investors.

 

May be she should look up the definition of Ponzi scheme, and while she's at it also about Pyramid sales, because everything points to a Ponzi scheme.

 

They have a special word for the gullible in Thailand. Som Nam Naa.

 

18% interest a month and nobody expected a Ponzi 55555555555

[brucec64]

Well some scams r believable becos for the 1st initial or 2nd returns payments r always on time as in this case. The report does not say so here but according to the interview in thai it was so.
After the trust has been gain and established. Bigger and more investments will be required and when the time comes and a big hefty amount has been pocketed, the scammer will disappear.
 

You are absolutely right. It is the classic ponzi scheme. I'm just always surprised when, in this age of widely obtainable information, that people let their greed impair their good judgement.

Sent from my SM-J710F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[colinneil]

Silly buggers, if it sounds to good to be true, it is not true.

Even educated people like these doctors get caught up in these scams.

[darksidedog]

Fools and their money are easily parted, and this shows it once again. When someone offers you amazing returns, if you don't smell fish, you are a fool, and hence, there goes your cash. While I feel sorry for those fleeced, they really should have seen it coming.

[Prbkk]

1 hour ago, Moonmoon said:

Well some scams r believable becos for the 1st initial or 2nd returns payments r always on time as in this case. The report does not say so here but according to the interview in thai it was so.

After the trust has been gain and established. Bigger and more investments will be required and when the time comes and a big hefty amount has been pocketed, the scammer will disappear.

 

Some of the scammers drag in enough cash to go on for years, paying interest to the original investors but always needing to bring in new ones. Most scamper away in the early stages but some, Bernie Madov a case in point, will stay on to the bitter, inevitable conclusion.

[Mook23]

59 minutes ago, colinneil said:

Silly buggers, if it sounds to good to be true, it is not true.

Even educated people like these doctors get caught up in these scams.

555 at "educated"... 

[gk10002000]

1 hour ago, brucec64 said:

Doctors are supposedly educated. Anyone who buys into an investment expecting 6 to 18 percent return a month deserves to be scammed.

Sent from my SM-J710F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Indeed, 6-18 per month, neglecting compounding and a simple multiplier of 12, would be 72-216 % per year!   greed, need, and ignorance add up to a bad combination when investing your money

[onemorechang]

2 hours ago, brucec64 said:

Doctors are supposedly educated. Anyone who buys into an investment expecting 6 to 18 percent return a month deserves to be scammed.

Sent from my SM-J710F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Even the smart ones can't stop being greedy. 

It's just to funny

 

[worgeordie]

Thai's are getting to be nearly as good as the Nigerians for scamming people, 

only difference the Nigerians would rather scam other nationalities,not their own. 

and Facebook has a lot to answer for.

regards worgeordie

[Tilacme]

"Doctors diagnose scam" - not correct but I like it!

[Reigntax]

3 hours ago, Tilacme said:

"Doctors diagnose scam" - not correct but I like it!

 

Yes, should be scammer diagnoses doctors then switches of life support.

[Rhys]

Inflammation of the Greed gland.. Rx  Reality check  5 mg Suppository, insert rectally every AM.

[gk10002000]

5 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

Indeed, 6-18 per month, neglecting compounding and a simple multiplier of 12, would be 72-216 % per year!   greed, need, and ignorance add up to a bad combination when investing your money

And, given my simple math example calculations, I hope these doctors are no calculating dosages of medicines, based on a person's weight, or other parameter as is often needed when measuring and administering some medicines!

[Moonmoon]

8 hours ago, brucec64 said:

You are absolutely right. It is the classic ponzi scheme. I'm just always surprised when, in this age of widely obtainable information, that people let their greed impair their good judgement.

Sent from my SM-J710F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Doesn't help as well that the fraudster was a Doctor; a respectable occupation, from a well known reputable hospital and a long time friend of the victim as well.

Its people and relationships like these that impaired the judgements of the best of us. 

 

[RichardColeman]

The logic of a tour company asking someone else (average Guy Joe) to pay in advance for rooms for them to me defies logic. Idiots.

[KIWIBATCH]

Trust us we are Thai 

[Sphere]

 

[klauskunkel]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

She said the business was not a Ponzi scheme

because Ponzi schemes are more sophisticated than that one.

[irwinfc]

easy gain, easy loss. the business turned out to be "doctored". 13 professionals outsmarted by a peer is a huge and bitter to swallow. no prescription can help there. best of luck to the plaintiffs.

[just.a.thought]

Did any of the so called victims declare the profits they initially received to the taxman? Greed the national sport number one,not just here....


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[little mary sunshine]

Another mini Madoff....6-18% return per 

month...ridiculous....suckered. by GREED

[elgordo38]

17 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“If we conclude that there is fraud, we will summon the doctor for questioning,” he said.

I doubt if she will respond. She more than likely packed her bags(no clothes just money) and is on a slow boat to China no need to rush. You just have to love this summons for questioning part of the legal system here. Its like a "pack your bags and run" notice. I think the term Keystone Kops that is bandied about on this forum really gives them to much credit. 

[balo]

Thais are idiots when it comes to investments.  Not even doctors understand the risks 

 

 

[tubby johnson]

6 to 18 % monthly returns 

 

This is the age of the internet, widely available information on scams and Ponzi schemes, yet people still fall for the same old tricks. Gullibility and greed emerge victorious in the end.

Where did these genius doctors get their degrees?