Another suspect has been arrested in the Forex-3D Ponzi scheme, which lured thousands of people to invest in what they believed to be foreign exchange trading with false promises of high returns.
Department of Special Investigation (DSI) officials on Tuesday detained Sitthanat Pho-ngern, 30, on a warrant issued by the Criminal Court.
He is charged with luring people to invest in fraudulent dealings by unlicensed online broker Forex-3D, operating from an apartment on Ratchadapisek road in Bangkok's Huay Khwang district.
The suspect was immediately given a physical examination as a precaution against Covid-19 transmission.
His temperature was a normal 36.4°C. He had no record of chronic disease and no history of travelling to areas with high risk of contracting the coronavirus.
Dr Trairit Temahiwong, deputy director-general of the DSI, said although restrictions have been imposed under the executive decree for administration in emergency situations to cope with Covid-19, the DSI was continuing its investigations into special criminal cases.
Forex-3D, run by Apiruk Kothi, turned out to be a Ponzi scheme that lured thousands of victims with false promises of high returns.
About 3,000 people have reported losses to the DSI, which expects to wrap up its investigation by the end of the year.
It is estimated the victims invested 1.58 billion baht in total, believing they were trading in foreign currencies.
The DSI has already seized property and assets worth hundreds of millions of baht from suspects in the case.