Hanoi (VNA) – Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI) has seized assets worth about 743 million baht (some 24.5 million USD) from suspects in the investigation into alleged fraudulent dealings by unlicensed online broker Forex-3D.

The latest seizures were seven high-performance sports cars estimated at 43 million baht in value, Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin said on December 10.

This is the third round of confiscations in the case.  The DSI last month seized 11 properties in Bangkok estimated to be worth 600 million baht, and then a second seizure of four properties valued around 100 million baht in total.

The properties and assets taken so far only amount to half of the estimated financial losses reported by investors in the alleged scam.

Forex-3D, run by Apiruk Kothi, turned out to be a Ponzi scheme that lured thousands of victims to invest in what they believed to be foreign exchange trading with false promises of high returns. So far, about 3,000 victims have reported losses to the DSI, which expects to wrap up its investigation by the end of the year./.

VNA