3 Thai TikTok stars arrested for 6 million baht Forex scam
Officers from the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) arrested three Thai TikTok stars for deceiving victims in a Forex scam, causing a total loss exceeding 6 million baht.
The three arrested TikTokers were identified as a 31 year old woman named Apinya, a 43 year old man named Rattawut, and a 41 year old woman named Prapakorn.
Various valuables worth approximately 6 million baht were seized from them, including five Louis Vuitton bags, one Dior bag, one Hermès bag, a Hermes belt, a Lotus sports car, BMW cars, and two gold bars.
Their arrests followed a complaint from 16 victims in January. The victims reported that Apinya, known as a fitness influencer with over one million followers, invited them to invest in Forex, also known as FX or Foreign Exchange.
Apinya approached the victims via social media platforms and advertised the investment on the website www.sulfver.com. She falsely claimed that the website was an investment platform based in the United States and promised investors high returns of 84 to 96% per year.
When the victims expressed interest, Apinya would send them videos explaining the investment processes via the Zoom application. The other two TikTokers, Rattawut and Prapakorn, also engaged in similar activities.
The victims transferred their investment funds to a bank account belonging to a Thai man named Santisuk. Initially, they received the promised returns as advertised by the influencers and the website. However, the payments eventually stopped, and the website was shut down.
Upon further investigation, the victims discovered that the company was not registered in either Thailand or any foreign country.
The police collected related evidence and later issued arrest warrants for four suspects. Santisuk was the first to be arrested and is currently imprisoned for defrauding the public. He faces up to five years in prison, a fine of up to 100,000 baht, or both.
The remaining suspects were apprehended on Tuesday, August 20. Apinya was arrested at her luxury condominium in the Bang Sue area of Bangkok, Rattawut was detained at his condominium in the Ratchayothin area of Bangkok, and Prapakorn was taken into custody in a village in Nakhon Pathom province.
All three suspects admitted to inviting victims to invest in Forex via the Sulfver website but denied scamming them. Further questioning and evidence gathering will be conducted before legal charges are issued against each TikToker.
