Police in Thailand arrested an actor Jiratpisit “Boom” Jaravijit during filming on suspicion of laundering money he received illegally, the Bangkok Post reported on August 9.
In late July, the local court received a complaint from a citizen of Finland Aarni Otava Saarimaa, who stated that Jaravijit lured $24 million (797 million baht) in Bitcoin from foreigners under the guise of investments in a promising company.
Together with six other suspects, including his brother and sister, the actor urged his victims to invest in shares of Dragon Coin. However, the deceived investors did not receive any dividends, nor the promised invitation to the shareholders meeting of the company. The investigation found out that the fraudsters stole crypto investors’ bitcoins, converted them into local currency, and transferred them to their bank accounts.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
1. Celebrities are becoming the ideal target for cryptocurrency ICO’s due to their fame and trust from their fans. Start-ups are trying to attract “the stars” to become the ambassadors for the new developing companies. However, it is also a good scheme for ICO exit scams.
2. At the same time, some stars prefer to catch the cryptocurrency wave and run their own ICO’s. In this scenario, they don’t have room for a mistake as the price would be their reputation.