Five people connected to disgraced Hong Kong-based Bitcoin marketplace MyCoin are reported to have been arrested Thursday.

The South China Morning Post claims that the five arrested may not have been running the scam, but were promoters of it, saying that three women arrested are accused of collecting money from some of the victims to help them invest in the company, with two male suspects alleged to have arranged venues to promote the investment.

As we reported February 9th, MyCoin was promoted as a Bitcoin marketplace and exchange, but in reality was nothing more than a high-yield investment program (HYIP) Ponzi scheme like scam. Investors were “lured by promises” of HK$1 million ($129,000) in four months after buying a HK$400,000 ($51,600) Bitcoin contract which would produce 90 Bitcoin at maturity through the Bitcoin mining arm of MyCoin.

The report added that in addition to the five arrested, police are still searching for a number of other people in connection with the case. “They include former and current directors and shareholders of the investment company involved,” the paper quotes a source as saying.

How much was taken in by the scam remains at the time of writing somewhat of a mystery. In our initial report we repeated that the figure was $387 million, but that number has been thrown into doubt in later reports; the South China Morning Post claims the figure is now HK$75 million ($9.7 million,) subsequently less than $387 million, but still by no means a small amount.

Was it Bitcoin related at all?

While it’s clear that MyCoin presented itself as a multi-faceted Bitcoin company, a lack of records or any evidence that the company ever held as much as 1 Bitcoin may suggest that it was nothing more than a HYIP/ ponzi scam that was using Bitcoin by name only.

That said as we’ve reported here before HYIP programs are still rampant in the Bitcoin space, so it’s not inconceivable that Bitcoin is involved.

Hong Kong Police are said to be particularly interested in finding one William Dennis Atwood, who was listed previously as a company director and may be the mastermind behind the scam.