People are still collecting sizeable sums of money from Asian families across Lancashire despite an alleged scam thought to have cost millions being investigated by police, a business leader has warned.
Ilyas Munshi, chief executive of business group Enterprise4All which includes the Asian Business Federation, said he fears the people behind the alleged 'Ponzi' scheme may now be targeting new areas where communities have not heard about failure to pay out.
He said he had received reports from business people across the North West, including Preston and Blackburn, that they had lost huge amounts in the scheme, which is believed to have cost more than 1,000 families up to £200m.
Police have confirmed they are investigating "a number" of complaints received about an "extremely complex fraud."
Mr Munshi said: "This may be one investment scheme or it may be multiple schemes, but I do not want anyone else being sucked into these schemes.
"What I have heard at a community level is that people are still collecting money, but if they cannot pay out on one transaction how do people expect them to pay out in the future?
"I just urge anyone who is approached to invest in any kind of scheme to seek professional advice, do not think just because one person has done it that you also need to put money in."
The business leader, who runs his own restaurant in Lancaster, said it will take time for people stung by the scheme to have the confidence to go to the police.
The Evening Post revealed last week that one Preston businessman had written off an investment in the scheme of £3.5m, which he believes he will never see again.
But, another victim said the reach of the scheme, which is thought to have claimed victims throughout the North West, Leicester and Essex, said that victims ranging from taxi drivers and shopkeepers to multi-millionaires had lost out in the fraud.
He said: "There is probably not one family in Preston which has not been affected either directly or indirectly."
A 'Ponzi' scheme is a fraudulent investment whereby the operator pays big returns to investors out of their own pockets rather than from profit.
The scheme offers lucrative returns to entice new investors thus creating an ever-increasing flow of cash to keep the scheme going.
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