Police are investigating a group of scammers posing as employees of the popular social media platform TikTok who conned a man into investing over 3.5 million baht in a bogus stock trading scheme.
The victim, identified only as Joke by the police, is known to be active on the social media platform. In a complaint filed with the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau on Thursday, he said the gang tricked him into sending 3.7 million baht over the course of several days.
Accompanied by lawyer Ronnarong Kaewpet, Joke said the gang reached out to him on his mobile phone early last month. The gang said as he had more than 1,000 followers on his TikTok account, he was eligible to take part in revenue-making supplementary activities.
At first, he turned down the offer but changed his mind later. The gang then gave him a list of clips to like on the video-sharing platform.
Joke said he was paid 15 baht for every clip he followed and liked. The pay went up over the course of a few weeks.
The gang later invited him to invest in its stock trading scheme. The minimum investment was set at 5,990 baht, but Joke said his exceeded a million baht each time. He ended up investing 3.7 million baht over three days.
He was promised a return he never received. He also lost the principal.
CCIB commissioner Pol Lt Gen Worawat Watnakhonbancha said investigators were looking into the gang and warned people to be wary of investment offers online.
The CCIB receives about 700 complaints about cyber crimes daily, he added.
Pol Maj Gen Chusak Kanadnid, commander of the High-Tech Crime Division, said it would be difficult to go after money that has been wired to criminal gangs as it tends to be withdrawn from bank accounts quickly and laundered.