SAMUT PRAKAN: Angry investors have accused a woman of operating an online pyramid scheme, enticing people to subscribe with promises of high returns, and defrauding them of more than 20 million baht.
About 20 people filed a complaint with Pol Lt Col Prasit Meksa, investigation chief at Muang police station in Samut Prakan province, on Thursday afternoon.
They accused a woman identified only as Pornpatcharanan and who operated the Ban Share Sap Ramruay (Wealthy House) investment scheme.
They alleged the woman was running an online pyramid scheme and had cheated them out of at least 20 million baht in total.
One of the victims said she had known Ms Pornpatcharanan personally before the woman invited her to invest in Wealthy House, which offered high returns. She had invested about one million baht in the scheme since 2018.
She had constantly received high returns, as promised, until February this year, when Ms Pornpatcharanan told her she faced a heavy burden because some members had stopped paying in money.
The complainant said she stopped receiving dividends on her investments. She had tried to contact the woman, but she could not be reached.
To the best of her knowledge, the scheme had about 90 groups and at least 60 million baht in circulation.
Another victim said there were actually 300 people who had invested in the scheme. About 20 of them had got together to file the complaint.
The scheme operator cheated her out of more than one million baht, the complainant alleged. She had invested in the scheme early this year. She had come to know Ms Pornpatcharanan through a Fortuner online club. They were both members
They later chatted personally via Line app, before the woman invited her to invest in Ban Share Sap Ramruay. Because she knew where the woman lived, she thought she would not cheat her and she invested in the scheme.
Later, she could not contact Ms Pornpatcharanan. She went to her house, but it was closed up. Nobody was there.
Police accepted the case for investigation.