A family in the northern province of Phrae is pursuing legal action against a woman who claimed she could secure a contract for the family's two pre-teen daughters to be part of a TV commercial along with K-pop star Lisa Manobal, defrauding them out of almost 9 million baht.
The money, which was transferred to the accused, identified only as Nam Phueng, was supposed to be security money for 30 working contracts, one of which was a TV commercial with Lisa, according to the girls' father, whose name was not given.
The father said Ms Nam Phueng claimed she was a modelling agent and offered to help secure contracts for his two daughters, 11 and 12.
Through Ms Nam Phueng, the girls initially got 19,000 baht for appearing in a yoghurt commercial, said the father.
Ms Nam Phueng then told the family to transfer money, on 42 occasions, to her to secure more contracts. The total amount transferred was 8.7 million baht, the father said.
After the promised work with Lisa had been postponed many times, the father said he realised it might be a scam, which prompted him to file a complaint with the police.
According to him, Ms Nam Phueng told him on Sunday that she would begin returning the money to them starting yesterday, but so far, nothing has been received.
He then asked for help from Ekapop Luengprasert, who runs the Sai Mai Tong Rod Facebook page, a channel for receiving complaints from fraud and criminal victims.
Mr Ekapop said yesterday he would assist the father in filing a complaint with the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau.
His rationale for doing so was that Ms Nam Phueng, claiming to be a modelling agent, continues to recruit new models on her Facebook page.
