DSI alerted to possible Bitcoin pyramid scheme
The Department of Special Investigation has been asked to look into a possible pyramid funding scheme in Uttaradit in which meditation practitioners are allegedly being asked to buy Bitcoins.
Charorenporn Anpranit, representing a meditation group at Wat Pa Kluya, told DSI deputy spokesman Pol Maj Woranan Srilam that, while no one has suffered losses so far, the promises being made to prospective investors are “too good” to be true.
Charoenporn said that Buddhists who practise meditation at Uttaradit temples have been approached to invest at least Bt38,000 each in Bitcoins and promised they would earn handsome profits after 300 days.
If they recruited additional investors, they were told, their own returns would be doubled.
Charoenporn said the group of people approaching the would-be investors cited the names of a respected monk and a state bank, suggesting that the scheme was legal and trustworthy.
She believed 700 to 800 meditation practitioners in Uttaradit, Pathum Thani and Chiang Mai have put money into the fund.
The DSI spokesman said the department would check on whether the operation is illegal.