Police arrested a Frenchman aged 38 in Phetchaburi province on Saturday for alleged involvement in a Ponzi investment scheme and defrauding his European victims of about 7.5 billion baht.
Pol Maj Gen Songprote Sirisukha, commander of Immigration Division 3, said on Sunday that a "Mr Dogan" was apprehended at a pool villa in Cha-am district on Saturday. He was named in an Interpol red notice with arrest warrants issued by France and Turkey.
The Frenchman was also suspected of being a key member of a Ponzi scheme run by a gang based in the United Arab Emirates.
The gang of five set up a “digital finance firm” in 2022 and claimed to have close connections with large-scale finance companies in Dubai. They lured victims, especially Turks who resided in France, Belgium, Switzerland and New Zealand into investing 20,000-300,000 euros each. The gang promised high returns of 15% a month, five-fold annual profit and a 10% bonus for recruiting new investors.
There were about 900 victims whose losses were estimated at 200 million euros (about 7.5 billion baht) in total.
The suspect faces extradition proceedings.
