Phudit Kittitharadilok, managing director of The System Plug and Play Co Ltd and Innovision Holding Co Ltd, was arrested by immigration police when he returned to Thailand on Wednesday.

Phudit and his family had fled to live in Singapore after his victims filed complaints with the Department of Special Investigation (DSI).

On May 9, about 200 people filed a complaint with the DSI, which agreed to accept it as a special case.

The DSI investigated and concluded that Phudit and his companies had deceived people since 2015 by luring them to buy investment packages that advertised 7-per-cent yields per week. There were five packages offered – VIP for Bt108,000, Premium Bt36,000, Standard Bt18,000, Mini Bt9,000 and Micro Bt4,500.

Members were also told to recruit new participants for a 5-per-cent commissions and urged to participate in paid-for seminar courses with the promise of receiving shares in the investment firms.

The DSI said some victims had invested as much as Bt10 million, but Phudit’s companies stopped paying dividends in July 2016.