Hunt on for scam suspects

A couple wanted for running a pyramid scheme that allegedly defrauded victims of more than 400 million baht have been blacklisted by the Immigration Bureau.

Immigration Bureau chief Sompong Chingduang said the suspects have been listed on the bureau’s database of active arrest warrants. Immigration checkpoints nationwide have been told to watch out for the suspects and prevent them from leaving the country.

The Criminal Court on Tuesday approved warrants for the arrest of Wantanee Tippaveth, aka Mae Manee 28, and her 20-year-old boyfriend

Methee Chinnapha. They face charges of public fraud, public fraudrelated borrowing and inputting false information into a computer system. They allegedly run the so-called “Mae Manee pyramid scheme’’ in which at least 2,000 victims were allegedly cheated out of more than 400 million baht.

Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin said he has instructed the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) to take on the pyramid scheme probe as a special case.

Mr Somsak said the DSI yesterday began allowing victims to file complaints via QR code, which drew about 1,600 complaints that day alone. On Monday, some 200 victims lodged complaints in person with the DSI’s bureau of illegal financial business crime.

This brings the total number of complaints being handled by the DSI to 1,800, with 432 million baht lost to the scheme, Mr Somsak said. Also on Monday, another 200 victims filed complaints with police, claiming they were defrauded out of about 100 million baht, he said.

To qualify for a DSI special probe, a case must involve more than 300 victims with more than 100 million baht lost, and the Mae Manee pyramid scheme meets the criteria, Mr Somsak said. The DSI will ask the Anti-Money Laundering Office to freeze the suspects’ assets, he added.