Thai Ponzi scheme: Couple gets 12,640 years' jail each for cheating others of $51m

A Thai couple, Wantanee Tippaveth, 28, and her boyfriend Metee Chinpa, 20, was charged on May 10 to 12,640 years’ jail each for scamming thousands in a Ponzi scheme. 

The couple, together with seven other people, lured their victims through Facebook between March and October, 2019 to invest in a savings scheme offering unusually high returns, allegedly up to 93 per cent a month, reported The Bangkok Post. 

The nine defendants allegedly did not use the money for investment but shared it among themselves dishonestly.

To convince people, Wantanee regularly posted online videos of her flaunting gold jewellery in a jewellery shop she purportedly owned, which turned out to be fake.

The Thai police said that some victims had invested their entire life savings and homes, and some had reportedly attempted suicide after losing their fortunes.

The couple were involved in 2,528 acts of fraud that amounted to 1.3 billion baht (S$51.3 million). There were reportedly more than 2,000 victims in this case. 

Thai PBS reported that the Thai court dismissed the charges against seven other defendants because they were just employees who had no knowledge of the scam.

The Thai court halved the couple's terms to 5,056 years each because the duo confessed to their crimes.

The duo, however, are expected to be in prison for just two decades as the Thai kingdom’s law limits their total jail time to 20 years each.

ALSO READ: Housewife who ran 'unprecedented' $35m ponzi scheme jailed for 14 years

ashwini.balan@asiaone.com

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