News Forum - iCon fraud scam hits 71 in Phuket, losses reach 19.5 million baht

[Thaiger]

Seventy-one people in Phuket have fallen victim to the iCon fraud scam, with losses amounting to 19.5 million baht (US$580,530), confirmed Phuket Provincial Police Commander Sinlert Sukhum. The number of victims has surged from 48, as announced by Sinlert on October 18. Individuals affected by the scam are still urged to report their cases to … …

The story iCon fraud scam hits 71 in Phuket, losses reach 19.5 million baht as seen on Thaiger News.

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[SnapDragon]

I've no idea what this is about.

Perhaps the TT newsroom could explain?

[Khunmark]

14 hours ago, SnapDragon said:

I've no idea what this is about.

Perhaps the TT newsroom could explain?

The Icon group have been around for a few years SD. They came to prominence during Covid when lots of Thais were stuck at home and wanted an income. Their business model involved direct sales of cosmetics and health products, with the promise of large returns.

Their marketing strategy concerned a cheap online training course where potential employees were encouraged to buy products which they were told they would be able to resell to others at a premium and make large profits.

The sting in the tail was that, the products they were moving were of either poor quality or were never delivered to their employees to sell. They also had VIP programs where if an employee bought their products to a certain value they would have privileged access to customer bases.

Around 600,000 people are members of the Icon group. With around 6,000 filing complaints so far. The prosecution are arguing that it’s a Ponzi scheme which is illegal here. They have also targeted the leader ‘Boss Paul’ on tax evasion and money laundering.

‘There are also suspicions that the consumer affairs commission was paid off by Boss Paul to keep them from investigating his behaviour and bribes were paid to senior government officials to obtain a license to operate.

[SnapDragon]

1 hour ago, Khunmark said:

The Icon group have been around for a few years SD. They came to prominence during Covid when lots of Thais were stuck at home and wanted an income. Their business model involved direct sales of cosmetics and health products, with the promise of large returns.

Their marketing strategy concerned a cheap online training course where potential employees were encouraged to buy products which they were told they would be able to resell to others at a premium and make large profits.

The sting in the tail was that, the products they were moving were of either poor quality or were never delivered to their employees to sell. They also had VIP programs where if an employee bought their products to a certain value they would have privileged access to customer bases.

Around 600,000 people are members of the Icon group. With around 6,000 filing complaints so far. The prosecution are arguing that it’s a Ponzi scheme which is illegal here. They have also targeted the leader ‘Boss Paul’ on tax evasion and money laundering.

‘There are also suspicions that the consumer affairs commission was paid off by Boss Paul to keep them from investigating his behaviour and bribes were paid to senior government officials to obtain a license to operate.

Thanks for that insight bro.

[Ttalk]

2 hours ago, Khunmark said:

The Icon group have been around for a few years SD. They came to prominence during Covid when lots of Thais were stuck at home and wanted an income. Their business model involved direct sales of cosmetics and health products, with the promise of large returns.

Their marketing strategy concerned a cheap online training course where potential employees were encouraged to buy products which they were told they would be able to resell to others at a premium and make large profits.

The sting in the tail was that, the products they were moving were of either poor quality or were never delivered to their employees to sell. They also had VIP programs where if an employee bought their products to a certain value they would have privileged access to customer bases.

Around 600,000 people are members of the Icon group. With around 6,000 filing complaints so far. The prosecution are arguing that it’s a Ponzi scheme which is illegal here. They have also targeted the leader ‘Boss Paul’ on tax evasion and money laundering.

‘There are also suspicions that the consumer affairs commission was paid off by Boss Paul to keep them from investigating his behaviour and bribes were paid to senior government officials to obtain a license to operate.

Excellent summary.  This type of thing happens worldwide where you are forced to buy product on a regular basis.  

 

As a variation of this and how they could have stayed legal, they offer the cheap course to get people interested, then upsell them on more extensive courses.  This happens a lot on trading courses, crypto courses, how to make money online courses etc.  Get people in on the cheap, then upsell them.

[Khunmark]

2 hours ago, Ttalk said:

Excellent summary.  This type of thing happens worldwide where you are forced to buy product on a regular basis.  

As a variation of this and how they could have stayed legal, they offer the cheap course to get people interested, then upsell them on more extensive courses.  This happens a lot on trading courses, crypto courses, how to make money online courses etc.  Get people in on the cheap, then upsell them.

I remember a few years back some financial guru came to the city where I lived spruiking his get rich quick scheme. He was charging hundreds of dollars per ticket per head and still packed out the local stadium which holds about 50,000 people.
 

Now I’m no mathematician, but it’s pretty simple to see where he was making his money from (and it wasn’t from taking his own advice). I wonder how many of those 50,000 ever benefited financially from his gospel or whether they just turned up for the euphoria of the event.