Customers cry foul over gold scam

More than 200 people have complained to the cyber crime police, alleging they have been scammed into buying gold jewellery online.
The victims, led by the Foundation Campaigning to Reclaim Social Justice, visited the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau (CCIB) to file the complaint on Monday.
One of the victims said they bought one-baht weight of gold for 33,000 baht from an online shop run by a woman identified by her alias “Khun Bainad” in May.
The victim said the money was wired to the shop, but the gold jewellery was never received.
The victim fell for the scam after seeing that Khun Bainad had invited celebrities to endorse her products.
The victim had demanded to know when the jewellery he or she paid for would be sent.
Khun Bainad claimed she was waiting for the jewellery item to be sent to her from a factory, the victim said.
The woman also said there was a mix-up with customers’ addresses to which the product was to be mailed, the victim added.
Suspecting fraud, the victim then joined some 200 others in petitioning the CCIB against the online gold shop owner.
According to the police, there might be more than 500 victims in total.
Pol Maj Gen Jirawat Phayungtham, acting CCIB commissioner, said the victims’ complaints will be combined into one for the ease of the investigation.
Pol Maj Gen Jirawat said the shop owner is suspected of luring potential victims into buying the gold jewellery by offering them discounts on the items. The more jewellery they buy, the more discounts they receive, he said.
For a while, the jewellery would be delivered to customers as promised, he said.
However, the shop later ran out of cash after it spent money paid by new customers to buy gold jewellery for earlier customers, he added.
Ronnarong Kaewpet, the foundation chairman, said a victim he had contacted for an interview contemplated committing suicide after the victim had invested in Khun Bainad’s gold jewellery and lost their entire life savings.
Khun Bainad is liable for charges of fraud and inputting false information into the computer system, he said.
The CCIB will also ask the Anti-Money Laundering Office to probe the shop owner and possibly seize her assets suspected to have been acquired through fraud, he added.