Noodle con artist jailed for 20 years

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Noodle con artist jailed for 20 years
Published: 18/02/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

A man who confessed to tricking people into investing in a noodle franchise scheme has been jailed for 20 years.

The Criminal Court yesterday ordered Sermsak Ounnoi, who was one of seven people indicted in the case, to repay the 1,054 victims of the scam 223 million baht plus 15% interest each year until the money is repaid.

Col Chuphong Pinthong, the director of Siam Foods Franchise Co Ltd, the company that ran the Noodle Bangkok chain, was also indicted over the fraud. His case has not been finalised. Other suspects are still at large.

The court found Sermsak guilty on Jan 20 of 1,054 counts of swindling people into believing they would receive a high return from investing in the noodle chain.

The punishment on each count was five years, meaning he would have faced a total of 5,270 years in jail had the maximum term in the case not been set at 20 years. The court handed down its sentence yesterday.

Siam Foods Franchise, between Aug4, 2006, and Dec 4, 2007, provided two investment options to its franchisees.

Under the first option, the company promised to pay each franchisee a minimum of 7,500 baht a month for 10 months in exchange for a start-up investment of 35,000 baht.

The second option required the company to pay 10,000 baht a month for 10 months in return for a 45,000 baht initial investment.But the company ceased operations on Dec 3, 2007, without paying the promised monthly dividends or informing its franchisees in advance.

The Department of Special Investigation yesterday warned the public not to trust companies that encourage people to invest in a business that requires them to pay membership fees or buy products, especially those businesses which promise high returns.

The DSI also encouraged the public to report any incidents of suspected pyramid schemes by calling its hotline number 1202.

Piyawat Kingket, the head of the DSI unit investigating special criminal cases, said companies running a pyramid scheme could face multiple charges under the Criminal Code and the anti-money laundering and bankruptcy laws.