( dpa )- Thai police have issued arrest warrants for three Thai nationals suspected of running an internet pyramid scheme that duped more than 100 investors out of 5 billion baht (151.5 million dollars) last year, media reports said Tuesday.
Police Colonel Piyawat Kingkate , chief of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), said that so far arrest warrants had only been issued for three Thais suspected of operating a bogus investment fund through two websites - www.colonyinvest.net and www.colonyinvest.com, said the Bangkok Post.
Other arrest warrants may be issued for the a number of foreigners who allegedly ran the websites, said Piyawat .
The internet sites pretended to represent Colony Invest, based in Rochester, New York, promising high returns on investments in real estate, stocks and foreign exchange transactions.
According the DSI's initial investigation, Colony Invest had nothing to do with the internet scam and had no knowledge of the two websites operating in Thailand and other Asian countries.
A Thai doctor, who declined to be named, claimed to have invested 5 million baht (151,515 dollars) in the scam, on which he received several interest payments from a company based in Malaysia's Padang Besar before the websites were shut down in November, last year.