Promises of super high returns lured over 9,800 victims to Ponzi scheme
Almost 10,000 innocent investors fell victim to the Forex-3D Ponzi scheme after being lured by promised yields as magically high as 60 per cent per year.
The Nation reviewed the tactics used by the group running the nefarious scheme to lure their victims after a well-known actress and a number of other suspects were arrested.
On August 18, the Criminal Court denied bail to actress Sawika “Pinky” Chaidet, her mother Sarinya, brother Sarayut and 19 others who face charges of allegedly colluding to defraud others and disseminating fake information via computer.
Alleged mastermind Apiruk Kothi was nabbed in January last year while trying to sneak into the country from Cambodia after more than a year on the run.
The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) revealed that the foreign currency Ponzi scheme, operated via the www.forex-3D.com website and three Facebook pages, had defrauded 9,824 people since 2019 and their losses could amount to more than 2.48 billion baht.
The DSI explained that the scheme used current members to lure new victims with promises of high returns to both new investors and current members.
Subscribers to the scheme first received an activation code from a current “investor” and were made to invest at least US$500 (18,000 baht) to start with, before sinking in a required $2,000.
According to information from the DSI, the scheme lured victims to “invest” in one of five classes:
- Bronze Class, with a claimed 60:40 ratio of profit to be shared between the investor and the company. The minimum investment was $2,000.
- Silver Class, with a claimed 65:35 profit ratio and at least $7,500 in investment.
- Gold Class, with a claimed 70:30 profit ratio and minimum investment of $20,000.
- Platinum Class, with a claimed 75:30 profit ratio and at least $30,000 in investment.
- Diamond Class, with a claimed 80:20 profit ratio and a minimum $40,000 investment.
The victims had to sign contracts agreeing to withdraw their money only after having invested for at least three months.
The contracts also stated that they could receive the profits only after their investments brought in at least 8 per cent of profit.
Current members were also invited to send links to lure new victims with a promise of a 5 per cent share of profits from new investors.
The victims were promised they would receive returns at the rate of 8 to 10 per cent for a month, but the annual profits would shoot up to 20-60 per cent.
