500 victims accuse social media influencer of 85 million baht gold scam

Over 500 victims filed a complaint against a social media influencer for operating a gold scam that caused losses exceeding 85 million baht.

Representatives of the victims, yesterday, October 7, visited the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau in Pak Kret district, Nonthaburi province, near Bangkok, to seek justice after social media influencer Promtada “Mae Bainard” Nakcharoen, the company director of Tada Gold store, was implicated.

One of the victims, Maysa, told ThaiRath that she discovered Mae Bainard and his gold shop through livestream videos on the TikTok app. Mae Bainard frequently launched jaw-dropping promotions to attract attention from netizens, offering, for example, 1 gramme of gold for 1,500 baht, whereas the market price is nearly 3,000 baht.

Mae Bainard repeatedly assured his followers and clients that he could obtain gold accessories at very low prices because he purchased them directly from a factory. However, he refused to disclose the name of the factory.

Maysa and other victims revealed that, although they initially received real gold accessories, they later lost their money when they placed further orders. There was also a VIP group whose members purchased large amounts of gold, often totalling 500,000 baht or more each time.

The victims stated that Mae Bainard cultivated an image of trustworthiness by inviting numerous Thai celebrities and influencers to his birthday party. Their relationships with these notable figures led the victims to believe he would not deceive them; unfortunately, this was not the case.

Acting Commander of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, Jirawat Payungtham, reported that there are over 500 victims in this case, with losses exceeding 85 million baht. Of these, 240 victims have already lodged complaints with the police, while the remainder have yet to do so.

The commander explained that Mae Bainard’s actions constitute violations of criminal laws, the Computer Act, and the Consumer Protection Act. The police will interview each victim before summoning the suspect for questioning.

The victims confirmed that this case is not related to the previous gold scam, which led to the arrest of two suspects, Korakarn “Mae Tak” Suwannabut and Karnphon “Pa Beer” Rueng-aram.