KUALA LUMPUR: By offering high dividends of up to 15% a month and yearly profits of up to 24%, a marketing management company with five different types of investments purportedly caused investors to suffer huge losses, mostly out of their retirement funds.
Malaysia International Humanitarian Organisation (MHO) secretary-general Datuk Hishamuddin Hashim said the syndicate used five different companies but the people behind it were from the same group.
“They use a marketing arm selling five different products; two trust funds, stock purchases, a short-term note investment linked to the Australian Stock Exchange, sukuk, and even a seafood company.
“They use two Sdn Bhd companies, two trustee companies and one foreign company. Four of them are registered in Malaysia and one is registered overseas but all are monitored by a company in Hong Kong.
“These are unregulated funds but two companies misuse the Securities Commission’s (SC) logo by stating they had submitted information memos which people often mistake for being regulated.
"Only the prospectus ones are regulated by the SC,” Hishamuddin said at a press conference after lodging a police report with 100 victims at the Sentul district police headquarters here on Saturday (March 11).
He said investors were misled due to the lack of understanding on the terminologies used, especially if they had no corporate knowledge.
It is believed some 3,000 victims are from all walks of life, including locals and foreigners, have been affected by the scams involving an estimated RM830mil losses, Hishamuddin added.
Malaysian Community Crime Concern Organisation (MCCC) president Tan Sri Musa Hassan said it was high time for an anti-scam law to be put in place to ensure those who fall victim to scams are able to recoup their losses.
“Those who are involved in these scam operations are aware of the loopholes in the laws.
“As such it is time for the SC, the Inland Revenue Board, police and Bank Negara to work together to investigate these fraudulent crimes.
“We also cannot blame victims and label them as greedy because everyone wants to make money. What we must do is take action against the perpetrators of these scams,” he said.
Musa added that under Section 107 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the police must also revert information within 14 days following reports made on the investigation.
One of the victims of the scam who wanted to be known as Siti revealed that she had invested RM300,000 with 30% returns promised in one year.
She was lured after being assured by an agent who dropped the names of VVIPs and prominent politicians in 2019.
“I did not know it was a scam because they showed me approvals from government agencies.
“In 2020, I stopped receiving my dividends, so when I had followed up, there was no reply and the company did not even respond to my queries. I proceeded with legal action via a letter of demand (LOD).
“to date, they have not responded to anything properly, which prompted me to approach MHO, where we found out there were so many more victims,” she said.
The company had then requested that she sign a new agreement involving partial payments in 2025.
She is pleading with the government to take the matter seriously because of the enormity of the amount and people falling victim to the scam.
Another victim, Ahmad, was devastated after losing his Amanah Saham Bhd and Employees' Provident Fund money.
He said after being duped and persecuted by these scammers; they are left with nothing.
“We are in need of help because we have tried to call them and even used lawyers but to no avail.
“There are a lot more victims but many are embarrassed after being duped,” he said.
