Police suspect a man who broadcast his brutal assaults on his girlfriend live on Facebook committed another wrongdoing by cheating people out of 6 million baht through his bogus online forex trading courses, police have found.
A group of victims complained to deputy police chief Wirachai Songmetta Tuesday against Chaichana Sirichart for luring them into paying money to attend courses he claimed would train them in how to reap profits by trading currencies on the foreign exchange markets.
The 25-year-old already faces several charges including attempted murder, physical assault, detention of a person and defamation by broadcasting a person's image across the internet, after he live streamed his attack on his girlfriend. Viewers reported it to police to help the woman.
One of the group, who asked not to be named, said he and his friends paid 15,000 baht each to Mr Chaichana after seeing an advertisement on his Facebook page, Global Fx Investment, for private one-on-one training courses including video clips offering insights in the currency market.
Mr Chaichana offered to be a mentor for his trainees for a period of one year, but the victim claimed there had been no training.
An investigation found that about 500 victims had paid money to Mr Chaichana, Pol Gen Wirachai said. Damages were initially estimated at 6 million baht.
Victims file a fresh complaint Tuesday with police, alleging that Chaichana Sirichart, the man accused of attacking his girlfriend on Facebook Live, of running a fraudulent online forex trading course. (Photo by Pornprom Satrabhaya)
A search of Mr Chaichana turned up no assets of unusually high value but the officers spotted documents and books about stocks and forex trading.
The books did not show Mr Chaichana to be an investment guru, as he claimed on his Facebook page, Pol Gen Wirachai said.
The investigators suspect he committed fraud and posted false information on the social network.
"We encourage other victims to also lodge complaints," Pol Gen Wirachai said.
"If there are many victims across the country we will ask the national police chief to forward the case to the Crime Suppression Division," he added.
Meanwhile, Mr Chaichana, who is being detained by the police, denied charges of attempted murder, detention of a person and defamation by broadcasting a person's image across the internet, police said Tuesday.
He admitted to physical assault and one drug offence. The man was also found to have been taking methamphetamine pills.
Mr Chaichana said earlier he had been quarrelling with his girlfriend, 21-year-old Kuldara Yeesaman, over the whereabouts of 6 million baht he gained from the course fees.
Ms Kuldara, who suffered a broken nose, cuts to her throat and burns on her body, is being treated in hospital.
She told the police her boyfriend regularly beat her during their eight-month relationship.
Her family expressed concern he may try to escape punishment by blaming her for alleged infidelity.
- Earlier report: Live streamer faces fraud charges