DSI investigating online financial scammers

DSI investigating online financial scammers
The Department of Special Investigation (DSI) is probing the origin of websites luring people into investing money, yet getting nothing back in return.

Published on December 14, 2007

"We are gathering evidence in a bid to nail down people behind these fraudulent schemes," Colonel Piyawat Kingket said yesterday in his capacity as the head of the DSI Office of Special Criminal Cases.

He said if the websites were operated from overseas, his office would ask the DSI Office of Technology and Information to help enforce the crackdown.

Piyawat named www.worldmartwallet.com and www.colonyinvest.com as dangerous sites for investment schemes.

According to an informed source, a woman alerted authorities about www.colonyinvest.com after she invested US$2,000 (Bt67,000) via the website and found she was a victim of fraudulent schemes.

If the investments generated profits as advertised, she would receive $3,000 back within 100 days.

"As of May 31, this website reported having more than 1,500 members in Thailand," the woman said.

As of press time, the site had already shut down. Earlier, it identified itself as a corporation registered in the United States and claimed that after nine years in operation, its businesses had expanded to eight Asian countries, including Thailand.

In a related development, a judge advocate at the Supreme Command Headquarters brought Colonel Chupong Pinthong to the DSI yesterday to acknowledge fraud charges levelled against him relating to his business, Siam Foods.

Chupong, however, declined to testify by invoking his right to speak only in court. He submitted a title deed of a plot worth Bt1.6 million to request bail, which the DSI approved.

Piyawat said Siam Foods had failed to pay dividends to its shareholders on December 1 despite the fact that Bt2 million was withdrawn from the company's account.

The Nation