The director of a chain of tutorial centres that abruptly closed down last week leaving parents out of pocket has been arrested, customs officers said on Wednesday.

The woman, 50, is suspected of contravening the Trade Descriptions Ordinance by wrongly accepting payments for prepaid tutorial programmes.

Customs officers said they have received more than 300 complaints from parents who have been unable to get refunds totalling over HK$2.5 million from the now-defunct tutorial chain, Brilliant Education.

"Some centres of the chain had been involved in rent arrears. It's not a recent situation. We believe that the chain still accepted tuition fees paid in advance even though it wasn't able to continue operating," said divisional commander Aggie Tsang.

She added that one parent is seeking a refund of HK$50,000 after paying for 12 months of tuition in advance.

Customs officers urged people to pay attention to the terms and conditions regarding refunds when they pay for courses upfront.