Brothers Edilberto Asuncion, 40, and Allan Paleng, 36, along with 3 other Filipino nationals reported to North Samrong police officers in Samut Prakran yesterday, August 17, that they had lost five hundred thousand baht in an investment scheme.
They were reportedly introduced to the scheme by a Thai woman, named by Samut Prakan police as Sunantha Wiangnat, 31, who was working in the sales department of a resort in Koh Chang where they were previously working but were laid off due to the Covid19 virus pandemic.
The scheme, according to the five alleged victims, was operated by buying cheap gold and then selling them for a profit. The Filipino victims had transferred 503,420 baht to the alleged female scammer in May. They were told that they would receive dividends of 40% every 15 days after the first day of investment.
The dividends were initially coming regularly but started to dry up in June, stated the group of five. Sunantha then claimed that she was unable to bring cheap gold into the country due to the Covid-19 lockdown. She allegedly offered to pay back the investment fund in 5,000 baht monthly installments but the victims disagreed and insisted on a full refund.
Alleged victim Allan said that they had previously filed a complaint to police officers at Koh Chang Police Station but they received no feedback and their financial situation was becoming worse. They then decided to follow up with another report at North Samrong police station.
Allan told the gathered reporters: “Sunantha told us that she had done this investment for a while and many investors had a big amount of money in return to start their own business. We believed her but now we believe that she was lying.”
“We wanted the officers to investigate everyone involved in the alleged scam. Because such an investment in gold savings or buying gold cheaply never existed.”
Police stated to Associated Press they are investigating the alleged claims.
