Investors no longer trust money game operators
PETALING JAYA: In the past month alone, at least five financial schemes dealing in forex are believed to have collapsed, with “investors” losing up to RM3bil in total.
The signs of trouble are similar. First, the monthly dividends stop coming in.
A few days later, to the shock of many investors, messages claiming the schemes have tanked will start to circulate furiously in WhatsApp groups.
Droves of investors will then flock to the offices of these scheme operators, and will be told to give the operators time to “make everything all right again”.
The most notorious is JJPTR and its young founder Johnson Lee. This brazen 28-year-old continues to keep in touch with 400,000 of his investors via videos posted online.
He admitted during a recent interview that he had lost US$400mil (RM1.7bil) of his investors’ money, and had pleaded with them to give him four years to recoup the losses.
The brains behind other headline-grabbing schemes, including Change Your Life and Richway, remain obscure and their whereabouts are unknown.
It seems the tides are now turning against these schemes as investors are no longer as trusting of the promises made by the operators as before.
In George Town, despite the promise of reimbursement of their capital, many JJPTR “investors” are still waiting for their money to be returned.
A woman, who refused to be named, voiced her displeasure over the delay at JJPTR’s main office in Perak Road yesterday.
“We keep hearing that the money will be refunded, but I still haven’t got mine. Hopefully, I don’t have to wait for years for that to happen,” she said.
An employee later told her that she would get her principal back in a month.
Another “investor” posted on the company’s official Facebook account (JJPTR Malaysia), saying the company should keep its promise to return their capital.
In his latest video uploaded to the official JJPTR website at around 10am yesterday, Lee claimed that he had completely refunded the money to JJPTR 2 “investors”.
He claimed that those under the JJPTR 2 category, which was registered after April 20, had been reimbursed.
“For JJPTR 1’s newest members, we will pay back your money starting on Monday.
“My priority is also to give back the money of OKU members (disabled persons) as I know that they need the money more than others,” he said.
After the video was released, a netizen posted a comment warning Lee not to try to buy time and to reimburse the money as soon as possible.
A special task force comprising Bank Negara Malaysia, the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry, the Companies Commission of Malaysia, the Securities Commission, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and the Attorney-General’s Chambers was set up late last month to investigate such companies.
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/05/07/investors-no-longer-trust-money-game-operators/#MaqJRkGMoOmvJkYK.99
