Monday, November 26, 2012

Beware of another investment scam


Mr Low (not his real name) made an investment with an asset management company X with an office in Bencoolen Street. They promised him monthly dividend payments but the payment stopped after two months. He did not receive the payment due for the past three months.

The representative of X told him that the investee company in Kazakhstan was taken over by another company and had stopped making the payment. He refused to respond to further questions from Mr Low.

Mr Low told me that he came to know of X because they offered to buy over his time share investment of $28,000, provided he put in another sum into X to make a total investment of $60,000. 

This sounds like another investment scam. I checked the MAS Investor Alert List and found that the company was not listed there.




6 comments:

David Soh Poh Huat said...

Thanks for the alert Mr Tan.
There are a lot of Companies out there offering 'buy back' of time share from consumers. Apparently these companies when they meet the consumers will get the consumers to reinvest another 'x' amount which may deemed as 'buy back'.
In the Singapore, we have the Time Share Association and CASE. These agencies are supposed to protect consumers interest and should be pro-active and alert consumers which is not the case. Something is wrong.

David Soh Poh Huat said...

Thank you for the alert Mr Tan.
Apparently there are many such companies operating time share 'buy back' from c, onsumbers. How they operate is that when they meet the consumers, they will normally ask them to reinvest another amount for another time share which will be deemed as 'buy back'.
These companies got the database from the resort exchange programme, probably from the former staff who knows that the consumer owns the time share.
This case should be under the preview of Singapore Timeshare Association and CASE. If they are aware of such happenings, why consumers are not being alerted. They will probably tai chi to MAS since it is not time share but investment. Very sad.

ron said...

There will always be some people who are greedy and see only profits and ignore or unaware of risks.

Yet there are some who are just plain gullible.

Is it the responsibility of society at large to:

A)Protect these people?
B)Are they vulnerable?

An approach for everyone to take would be:

1. Is the business concept realistic?

Eg: I have a watch. It is made of titanium, a metal that is used in rocket engines and cannot melt.
It is also installed with a time mechanism equal to Rolex.

You can have the watch. Wear it anytime you like and return it whenever you like. We also provide free support.

You just need to invest $88 to have this privilege of using it. For this period only we offer a promotion of $188 if you sign up for 3 different styles: Sports, Casual and Elegance.

You can also sign up for our annual membership for just $888 and you can choose any watch, anytime!

For an additional $350, you also get to invest in our heritage watch collection of world brands. Returns can be 32% or more annually!

Does this sound believable...? if you are gullible, who should help you??

Tan Kin Lian said...

Veronika,
I agree with you that people should be alert and avoid being cheated by crooks. I do not expect the Government to be able to stop all the crooks from operating.

However, if there is a crook going around and people have been cheated, and complaints have been lodged, it is the DUTY of the "authority" to stop the crooks from operating, especially as their identity is known.

I object to the excuse given for the "authority" to sit by, do nothing and let other people be cheated by the same crooks. I do not know how we can get into this shameful state of affairs, and still people are giving apologies on behalf of the "authority" which is neglecting their duty.


Lye Khuen Way said...

Yes, Mr Tan. Strange how some can defend the non-action of the Authorities.

Well like I posted elsewhere, someone decided sometime ago, that each govt organization needed clear mission statement. Good.
Only problem is that no one ensure that there are no gaps/cracks between!

Even with Ministers without Portfolio in the PMO, the team just do not have the will to do the right things.

That is why I believe we have "no government " in many instances. Only, "coverment"!

Evie Williams said...


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