Scam victims sue Meta, Apple, Line and banks for B230m

PUBLISHED : 8 Jun 2026 at 17:22

The Thailand Consumer Council is representing 10 scam victims suing internet platform operators Meta, Apple, Line and banks for 230 million baht in total damages.

Council lawyers helped the 10 scam victims file their lawsuit at the Civil Court on Rachadaphisek Road in Bangkok on Monday.

Lawyer Nannapatsorn Techapanyapipat said the complaints targeted Meta Platforms Inc which owns Facebook, Line, Apple and banks.

The victims were lured with scam advertisements on Facebook, invited to join investment scam groups on Line and transferred money to scam gangs through the systems of banks.

Mr Nannapatsorn said his clients had wanted to learn about the securities exchange and searched for relevant information in Facebook. The platform then presented investment scam pages which showed the pictures of well-known investment gurus.

The victims then were invited to join Line groups where they were “educated” about stock trading and watched trainers’ clips.

Afterwards the victims were lured into trading securities through apps that they had to download from the Apple Store. Then they were scammed.

Saree Aongsomwang, secretary-general of the Thailand Consumer Council, said the overseas parent companies controlled content on their platforms, received revenue shares and made profit from content. Therefore, the legal action targeted the mother companies, not their Thailand-based branches which had only supportive responsibilities.

Ms Saree said the banks that handled transactions for scam networks should have noticed the illicit business activity and prevented the victims transferring money to scammers.

The demanded restitution totals 230 million baht. The consumer council expects the action now iunitiated will help protect other innocent people, she said.

One of the complainants told reporters she lost 165 million baht to one of the investment scams. She had been lured by people on Facebook and Line into downloading an investment app from the Apple Store.

She had previously filed complaints with government organisations, but they had not been heeded.

The Civil Court will convene a meeting of the parties concerned on Aug 3.