A Crime Suppression Division (CSD) team has arrested an elderly woman accused of using the Bank of Thailand's name to dupe thousands of followers out of a sum totalling about 500 million baht.
Pantipa "Na Louise" Naiyathip, aged 66, claimed to have supernatural powers in order to win a huge number of followers in the southern provinces, said CSD chief Jirabhop Bhuridej.
In all, 10 online recruiters for the "Louise" Ponzi scheme have been arrested for alleged fraud and money laundering.
Ms Pantipa exploited her followers' faith by forming groups on social media, run by her partners, in which members were asked to invest 1,000 baht each. In return they were promised profits of over a million baht, backed by the Bank of Thailand (BOT). The members were shown forged BOT documents to back the claim.
Police launched their investigation in June and discovered that accomplices were asked to set up chat groups on the Line application. Each group had 500 members.
They were told that Thailand had received World Bank funding for development projects, but extra money was needed. Every 1,000 baht invested to help the projects for the poor would yield up to 4 million baht in return.
Ms Pantipa's followers poured a total of 500 hundred million baht into the scheme, only discovering the deception years later when the returns promised failed to materialise.
The victims come from all across country, while the recruiters were arrested in Chachoengsao, Nakhon Ratchasima, Si Sa Ket, Samut Prakan and Nonthaburi provinces. The money trail is still being tracked, said police.
Raids on 11 locations had yielded 200 items of evidence so far, according to Pol Maj Jirabhop.
The Anti-Money Laundering Office will investigate alleged money laundering in the scheme and find the remaining assets, he added.
The 10 suspected recruiters deny the allegations and insist they were raising funds and working with organisations as claimed.
Pruettipong Srimachand, the BOT's Assistant Governor, Legal Group, confirmed the governor's signature and BOT letterhead were forged in the document used in the scheme.
Meanwhile, the central bank announced on its Facebook page that the BOT does not have a policy of directly informing people about suspicious transactions.
It advised members of the public to check information carefully before taking any action on investment or personal finances, adding they could call the helpline number 1213.