Chiang Mai condo scam victims seek justice

A group of victims has petitioned the Foundation Campaigning to Reclaim Social Justice to help follow up on a condominium fraud case that has not progressed since 2022.

Narumon Simons, one of the complainants, said she bought a condominium unit at a luxury condominium project in Chiang Mai’s Hang Dong District.

The project was launched in January 2019 with an event where celebrities, including Kan Kantathavorn, one of the suspects in the iCon Group pyramid scheme scandal, were presenters.

Ms Narumon claimed that the project’s developer offered to help buyers make money by renting out the units.

She said she agreed to let the developer rent out her unit and received around 100,000 baht per year from 2019 to 2022.

After that, no further payments were received, so she decided to end her contract.

She found her unit was occupied by Chinese tenants and in a bad condition.

The situation was similar to what other buyers experienced.

According to her, more than 100 victims, with combined damages exceeding 300 million baht, filed a complaint with the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) against the condominium developer in 2022. However, there has been no progress on the case.

Ms Narumon said the quick action by authorities on the recent iCon Group scam inspired them to seek similar attention from the authorities for their cases. 

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Vocabulary

  • celebrity: someone who is famous, especially in the entertainment business - คนมีชื่อเสียง
  • complainant (noun): a person who makes a formal complaint - ผู้ร้อง(ทุกข์)
  • condition: the physical state of a person, animal, thing or place - สภาพ
  • contract: an official written agreement - สัญญา
  • damages: money that a court awards to a person who sued another person for causing injury to them -
  • developer (noun): real estate developer, a person or company that builds new "real estate developments" including buildings, houses, shopping centers, etc - นักพัฒนาที่ดิน
  • occupied (adj): having someone staying there, e.g., a person who is renting a hotel room -
  • progress: to improve or develop, or to get nearer to achieving or completing something - ก้าวหน้า
  • pyramid scheme (noun): an illegal way of making money, in which people are persuaded to invest money or sell a product and to persuade others to do the same, with the later investors paying money to the earlier investors, until the payment structure collapses and most people lose their money - แชร์ลูกโซ
  • scandal (noun): a situation in which people behave in a dishonest or immoral way that shocks people - เรื่องอื้อฉาว
  • suspects (noun): people who are thought to have committed a crime - ผู้ต้องสงสัย

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