Natthamon Khongchak, better known online as Nutty, allegedly defrauded more than 6,000 victims. PHOTOS: NUTTY.SUCHATAA/INSTAGRAM via The Straits Times
BANGKOK, Sept 3 (The Straits Times/ANN): She gained popularity as a singer, dancer, business owner and "successful" forex trader. But Natthamon Khongchak is now making headlines as an alleged multi-million-dollar scammer, and a fugitive.
The Thai social media celebrity, better known online as Nutty, has gone missing after she is said to have fleeced thousands of her followers of two billion baht (S$77 million) in foreign exchange investments they made with her.
The 29-year-old has more than 800,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel and ample followings on other online platforms. In the past year, she began advertising herself as a forex trading guru who in one instance purportedly made 300,000 baht in 10 minutes.
Lured by promised returns of up to 35 per cent or more and monthly payouts if they invested with her, over 6,000 people have allegedly been duped, said lawyer Phaisal Ruangrit who is representing some of them.
"(She) often posted photos on social media showing her wealth with luxury cars, watches, bags and property while claiming she had gained them from forex trading via a broker called 'IQ option'," Lieutenant-Colonel Watthana Ketumpai, the police's Cyber Crime Investigation Division 5 chief, told Thai media.
Authorities have received more than 100 complaints. Arrest warrants have been issued for Ms Natthamon and her secretary.
A growing bounty of five million baht - pooled by victims - is also on Ms Natthamon's head.
According to The Nation, Col Watthana said officers are investigating a possible connection to the high-profile Singapore case where Singaporean Pi Jiapeng, 26, and his wife, 27-year-old Thai national Siriwipa Pansuk, allegedly swindled customers of $32 million after failing to deliver on luxury goods.
The Straits Times could not verify this with the cyber crime bureau, but the Royal Thai Police said no link has been found yet.
Ms Natthamon, who also uses the first name aliases Leah and Suchata, made a name for herself posting videos of her singing and dancing. At the height of her fame, she debuted in South Korea and launched two singles in 2015.
That same year, Ms Natthamon, who was born in Chiang Mai, started her own skincare brand but has since sold the factory, according to media reports.
Local reports said she was born into a wealthy family who ran karaoke and nightlife businesses. But their fortunes took a turn and the family filed for bankruptcy.
After living with her mother in Malaysia for a period, they returned to Thailand where Ms Natthamon generated buzz on social media platform Socialcam for her dance and song covers.
She was also often praised for being a filial daughter who shared a close relationship with her mother who appeared on her YouTube channel.
It was this wholesome image that led many fans to part with hefty sums when Ms Natthamon invited them to invest with her.
"If you're interested in trading shares, you can consult (with me). I guarantee you won't be disappointed," she posted on her Instagram page about a year ago, with images of her "successful" trades.
Several alleged victims have shared their plight on talk shows and news channels.
"Everyone knew that she had a good reputation, took good care of her mother and employees," said one person who invested over eight million baht and gave her name only as Eve.
It was a similar story for another woman, identified only as Nok, who said: "She spoke well, showed gratitude and even bought a 40 million baht house for her mother."
"I saw her posting about doing trading for others. If she were someone I did not know or follow before, I would not have been brave enough to invest a huge sum of money with her," said Nok, a fan of Ms Natthamon for 10 years.
Nok invested 37 million baht - including money from friends - after receiving a 40 per cent return on an initial one million baht investment she made in November last year.
The payments came in promptly until March this year when Ms Natthamon suddenly said the money could not be withdrawn from the broker platform.
"At first, I was able to contact her. I asked her why didn't I get any money from the investment. She said the money was stuck with the broker and there was about 600 million baht in total," said Nok.
Another woman, who went by the name Fah, invested 1.5 million baht and received her promised 35 per cent payouts monthly until March.
Fah, who had been Ms Natthamon's fan since the singer's debut in South Korea, also enrolled in the latter's investment classes to learn about forex trading.
"She held online classes via Zoom every day. We saw each other's faces. I did not know that I was going to be scammed," she said.
As investors started getting anxious and some began filing police reports in May, Ms Natthamon took to social media to reassure them.
"No matter what the reasons are, it is all my fault. I apologise for getting a lot of you in trouble and disappointing the ones who believe in me" she said in an Instagram post and video on May 25. She added that her broker had blocked her fund withdrawals and trading account in March.
She included the hashtags #IveNeverThoughtOfScammingAnyone, #IfIWantedToRunAwayIWouldDoItLongAgo and #IfIWantedToFraudIWouldDoItLongAgo.
She promised to compensate the victims and would come up with the money by trading or working other jobs.
"We are going to get through this together. I will not run away and I promise that everyone will be compensated," she said in the video.
She has gone silent ever since.
While there have been reports speculating that Ms Natthamon has fled to Malaysia, authorities said immigration records do not reflect this. - The Straits Times/ANN
