A group of 70 people have filed complaints with the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) claiming they were duped into purchasing condominium units, resulting in total losses of 3 billion baht.
Pavena Hongsakula, founder of the Pavena Foundation for Children and Women, led the group in filing the complaint on Wednesday. She said the group represented about 200 affected individuals in all.
The complainants sought help from the foundation on Saturday, saying they had been deceived by a debt-relief company that offered to pay their credit card debts. In return, they had to sign contracts to purchase condominium units.
One victim, who gave her name only as Meen, said that the company, located in Khlong 2 in Lam Luk Ka district of Pathum Thani, contacted her and offered to settle her credit card debt amounting to 900,000 baht. She said she did not know how the company knew about her debts, but it did pay them off.
She also filed a statement with the Khu Khot police station stating that the company had settled the debt for her. In return, she needed to sign a contract with the company that she would join it in a condo purchasing project.
At first, she thought she had signed up to buy one unit but she later found out that the company had submitted her documents to seek loans from many banks. She now has 16 million baht in debt obligations for purchasing four condominium units.
She said the company had told her to pay for one unit and that it would pay for the other three. The contract stated that the company would buy back all the units within two years. However, it eventually defaulted, leaving her responsible for the entire debt and facing lawsuits from the banks.
Similar experiences were shared by other victims. Some were duped into buying multiple units and ended up being up to 40 million baht in debt.
The victims set up a Line group that has more than 200 members, said Ms Pavena. Everyone was very distressed because the company had already closed.
Ms Pavena urged the DSI to help coordinate with banks to negotiate debt restructuring for the victims and investigate the company and other businesses that use similar tactics and post advertisements on social media.