A 31-year-old nurse accused of swindling more than 4 million baht from people in Udon Thani was detained by police in Bangkok’s Bangkok Noi district on Wednesday.
Malisa Srinanam was apprehended by Crime Suppression Division and Bangkok Noi police in front of Siriraj Piyamaharajkarun Hospital on Wednesday afternoon.
She was named in an arrest warrant issued by an Udon Thani court and accused of colluding with her ex-boyfriend in duping people to invest in medical equipment, Pol Lt Col Torsak Panklinput, a CSD investigator, said on Wednesday
The pair had opened a business, Malisa Technology Co, in Udon Thani’s Ban Dung district and persuaded people to invest in medical equipment, with a promise of a dividend of 10% on the investment money, Daily News Online reported.
The promised high returns attracted about 20 investors, said Pol Lt Col Torsak. Initially, the pair had paid dividends as promised, but later they closed the firm and fled. Losses to investors stood at over 4 million baht.
Ms Malisa denied all charges. She told police she had worked as a nurse at Ban Dung Hospital and knew a man who later became her boyfriend. The man had persuaded her to jointly invest in a business, promising her a high profit. She then opened the firm, with her boyfriend taking charge of all business.
She said she was tasked with inviting people to invest in the business. She had given all the invested money to him. The business had initially gone well, and paid dividends to those who invested in it, Ms Malisa claimed.
Last year, her boyfriend told her that the business had a liquidity problem and he could not find the money to pay dividends, she said.
She initially thought he would soon solve the problem, but instead the man started frequent quarrels with her and finally broke off with her. He later fled and could not be contacted, so she closed down the firm, Ms Malisa told police.
She said claimed she was not aware there was a court warrant for her arrest. After leaving Udon Thani she had found a nursing job at a public hospital in Bangkok, Ms Malisa said.
Police initially charged her with colluding in fraud before handing her over to Ban Dung police for legal action. They were tracking down her ex-boyfriend.