How to Con 101.

[Arcachon]

1. This man married a Chinese national. He promised to bring her son over to Singapore to study. He asked for $30,000 from his wife, reason being he needed to pay for the registration and admin fees. Of course she borrowed from her friends and relatives in China and gave it to him. After 3 months, there was still no news and she started to get worried. He then told her another $20,000 is required to bribe the relevant department or else it will not be successful. Again, she forked out another $20,000.
In the end, he admitted that he did not apply and had spent the whole $50,000. Not only did the poor boy have to be sent back to China, his wife had to slog her guts out to pay back the debt every month.
2. He had another affair with a Singaporean woman behind his wife’s back. She was his childhood sweetheart. He told her that his ‘business’ (which is non-existence) was facing some legal lawsuit and was in dire need of money to pay the legal fees and fines. It did not cross her mind that he would con her and took out her life savings and pawn all her valuables to lend him. She also borrowed money from her family, everything totaling up to $75,000.

3. A month after lending money from his girlfriend, he told me and my wife that his ‘business’ was facing cash flow problem and he was unable to issue salaries to his workers, many of whom are foreign workers on work permit). We did not know of the above incident where he asked for money from his girlfriend until he disappeared, so we did not suspect anything and lent him a total of $57,000 over a few separate occasions. We used up all our savings as well as my daughter’s university funds which he knows we would need right now. We trusted him because we were on quite good terms and we see him every day. He promised to return us when his project was completed.

4. He also borrowed money from a couple of friends here and there, totaling up to $10,000 at the same time.
In the end, he quit his job and disappeared (does not even go back home). Right now, all of us are not able to contact or locate him. He would still be on whatsapp, but would not reply even after seeing the messages.
So why did he need so much money, to the extent of cheating his wife and girlfriend, as well as his friends? We have no idea, but we bumped into one of his friend who works in a KTV. She told us that for the past 1-2 months (the same period he borrowed money from all of us), he spent over $100,000 on a KTV hostess.
Please share this post and keep a lookout for this person. Beware of dealing with him. From what we found out and after piecing up all the stories together, he has been doing this (conning people) for some time.
We are now looking for him and please leave us a comment immediately if you have any news of him or saw him somewhere. We appreciate it a lot. Thank you.

此人已于一位中国女子结婚并承诺会把妻子的儿子从中国办来新加坡读书。过后他以需要交登记费与其他费用的理由向妻子所要3万新元。由于妻子心切所以向中国的亲朋好友借了需要的费用。3个月后，因尚未得知任何音讯，妻子开始怀疑担心。但是这个人却跟妻子说需要另加2万新元行贿政府相关人士才会成功。所以妻子又借出2万。然而最后，这个人承认自己并没有帮妻子申请儿子读书，而是花光了整整5万新元。妻子的儿子无情的被送回了中国而妻子每个月又要辛苦赚钱还债。
这位男子过后瞒着妻子在背后与另外一位新加坡女子偷情。这位新加坡女子是他的儿时女伴。他骗这位新加坡女子说他的公司面临一些法律的纠纷所以需要一些法律顾问费与罚金但是后来才知道他那是根本都没有什么公司生意。因为是儿时玩伴，这位女子认为他不会欺骗她所以就毫不犹豫地借了他钱并当了自己的贵重物品来给他补充资金，加上她从她的家人那借的钱一共借给这位男子7万5千元新币。
从他向女朋友那边借钱一个月后，他跟我和我老婆说他的“公司事业”有资金流动的问题，他无法再给他的工人工钱，并且说他的很多工人都是持有工作准证的外劳。我们在他失踪之前并不知道他有向其他人借钱，所以我们就没有顾虑到他还不上钱的问题，分几次一共借了他5万7千元新币。因为朋友有难而且会天天见面，我们就什么也没多想，借了他我们所有的储蓄，连我们女儿的大学学费也借了出去。那时他承诺我们他的工程一完工就会还给我们的钱。
同时他也向其他几位好友借了差不多一共1万元新币。
最后，他辞了他的工作然后搞失踪，甚至连家也不回。我们全部人至今都无法找到他的行踪。但是他还会出现在手机的联络工具Whatsapp, 然而他看到短信也不会自动点回复我们。
他骗了自己老婆，女朋友还有我们这么多钱到底为了什么，我们也不了解，但是我们见到他在KTV工作时的同事的时候，她跟我们讲在他从我们借钱的那时候一到两个月左右里，他为了一个KTV女郎一共花了差不多10万元。
请大家各位把这件事情散播出去，也请各位帮我们大家留一下这个人并及时通知我们。千万不要相信他的话，这样连家人与朋友都欺骗的人千万不能让他在新加坡逍遥法外。根据我们把其他人与他发生的事情联系起来，我们发现他已经到处骗钱骗人好长一段时间了。
我们大家都在找寻他的踪迹，因为他伤天害理的行为我们无法忍气吞声，无法原谅。如果各位有任何线索请迅速尽快留言联络我们。
我们一定感激不尽，谢谢。

[Arcachon]

Public service announcement: A dangerous pen for those writing important documents.

https://www.facebook.com/wengfai.won...3714064261522/

[Arcachon]

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...tims-lost-160k



A former property agent who caused his victims to lose a total of $160,000 was jailed for 32 months yesterday for multiple offences.

Tang Koon Yeow, 45, an undischarged bankrupt since Feb 10, 2006, was also fined $7,000 for managing JT Automobile, a used car business, without permission from the authorities between August and September 2013.

He faced a total of 21 charges, including cheating and forgery, and pleaded guilty to nine - five for forgery for the purpose of cheating; one for criminal breach of trust (CBT); two for cheating; and one under the Companies Act.

A district court heard that he forged the signature of a client, Mr Pek Chen Feng, 33, in October 2007 to apply for credit cards from the Bank of China and credit facilities from ABN Bank and OCBC Bank.

Mr Pek had provided his SingPass password and a copy of his identity card to Tang, who had handled the sale of Mr Pek's late father's Housing Board flat in Hougang that year.

Unknown to Mr Pek, Tang forged his signature and used his personal particulars, including his address, on several credit card and credit facility application forms.

Mr Pek lodged a police report on Feb 8, 2012 after having received letters of demand for payment from various banks.

Tang had also forged the signature of Mr Pek's younger sister Christina for credit facilities at OCBC and ANZ in February and March 2011 respectively.

She, too, had given him her SingPass password and her identity card details when she engaged him to buy an HDB flat under her name and that of her mother.

She made an electronic police report on Feb 3 , 2012 after banks sent her letters of demand for payment.

In another case, Tang misappropriated a down payment of $29,500 entrusted to him by Ms Lim Wan Ching, 36, for the purchase of a condominium in June 2011. The transaction fell through and he did not pay her back.

Two years later, he was involved in rental scams by deceiving two potential tenants into paying him $4,000 and $12,600 as rental payments for a flat off Moulmein Road which he did not own.

No restitution has been made by Tang, who has a conviction for promoting public entertainment without a licence.

[Arcachon]

https://www.facebook.com/ariel.woon/...53047343791825



This kidnap hoax happened to my relative. Full package hoax with name of victim's daughter, woman crying for help and threat to kill the daughter to sell her organ if kidnapper did not receive $5k within an hour.

Beware of this phone no. 92054805. Police said a number of police reports have been made on this number.

Warn your parents and relatives, prevent them from being the next victim. Do not panic if you receive a ransom call, keep calling the person that is supposed to be kidnapped to verify.

[Arcachon]

Email Scam

Hi,

Apologies for having to reach out to you like this, but I made a quick trip to London,United Kingdom and had my bag stolen from me with my passport and credit cards in it. The embassy is willing to help by authorizing me to fly without my passport, I just have to pay for a ticket and settle Hotel bills. Unfortunately, I can't have access to funds without my credit card, I've made contact with my bank but they need more time to come up with a new one. I was thinking of asking you to lend me some quick funds that I can give back as soon as I get in. I really need to be on the next available flight.

I can forward you details on how you can get money to me. You can reach me via email or the hotel's help desk, 08715046355. I hope to hear from you soon.

Thanks

http://manleymannmedia.com/2010/09/0...rip-to-london/

[Arcachon]

NTUC Scam

[Arcachon]

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...60m-ponzi-scam

Around 60 people are claiming to have been duped by woman over 'sweet' property deals
Joanna Seow
It started out as a sweet deal involving the buying and selling of properties in Singapore's choicest districts, promising around 30 per cent returns.

Now, around 60 investors have come forward to claim they have been duped in what could be a multi-million-dollar ponzi scam.

The investors said the alleged mastermind behind the elaborate scheme, Ms Leong Lai Yee, owes investors more than $60 million in capital alone.

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They also told The Sunday Times that the woman, who is in her 50s, cut off contact with them last weekend, but not before telling them that their money was gone and she wanted to take her own life.

At least 10 investors have lodged police reports. The police said in response to queries: "It is inappropriate to comment on investigations."

The scheme may have started unravelling only last year, but it has been going on some 15 years.

Through the period, Ms Leong allegedly hooked more than 100 investors with her promise of a virtually no-risk programme.

On the "advice" of a banker, she would buy distressed properties in Orchard, Tanglin and Newton, which are on the verge of being repossessed by banks, and sell them to buyers in China for a profit.

Investors who pumped in money to fund the purchase of these distressed properties were promised returns ranging from 10 per cent to 48 per cent over a period of four to eight months, they said.

They were also told that the eventual buyers would place a 40 per cent downpayment on the property, which would be forfeited if these buyers backed out. This would be enough to pay the profits promised to investors.

The Sunday Times was shown business agreements between investors and Ms Leong guaranteeing their capital and pro-rated profit. The money which investors pumped in ranged from $10,000 to more than $2 million.

Those who referred friends were also given a cut, which could be anywhere from 1 per cent to as much as half of the new funds.

One investor, who gave her name only as Madam J. Tan, said Ms Leong claimed to be marketing high-end condominiums in Singapore's Districts 9, 10 and 11, although there were never any documents to prove this.

"We just trusted her because of the testimonies of those who knew her for a long time," said the 50-year-old, who put in $1 million and introduced several friends to the programme.

Among the investors were retirees and housewives like Madam Tan.

She said Ms Leong had urged people to withdraw their Central Provident Fund savings, borrow from their insurance policies or take a second mortgage on their properties to free up cash to invest.

Several investors were with the scheme for over 10 years, while the latest joined just last month.

Ms Leong, who was known to friends as Adeline, built up trust and goodwill over the years, even inviting investors over for Chinese New Year parties at her well-decorated semi-detached house in Tanah Merah.

"She is someone who sits down together with you, laughs, goes for dinner, holidays in Thailand and Hong Kong together with you. Will you suspect anything?" said a 58-year-old businessman who gave his name only as Mr S. Goh.

He had gotten to know Ms Leong in 2001, and together with friends and relatives poured more than $2 million into the scheme. He also put returns and referral fees back in as investments.

"There were never any problems. There were even people who pulled out early and got their capital and pro-rated returns back," he said, explaining why no alarm bells went off for so many years.

It appeared to be only in the past few years that things started going wrong and Ms Leong tried to raise more funds by offering higher returns of 35 per cent for a six-month contract.

This bears the hallmark of a ponzi scheme, in which fresh funds from new investors are used to pay those who joined earlier.

Last September, several investors received a text message from Ms Leong saying she would pay them only in December, but with additional interest.

A week later, she postponed payment to March 9. She told investors then she was trying to negotiate a $70 million deal that would allow her to repay everyone.

When March 9 came, payments were pushed to May 18.

Four days before the deadline, investors were asked for their addresses so they could be sent invoices. But instead of invoices, some of them later received a letter from Ms Leong in which she said she would kill herself.

She and her husband have been uncontactable since, investors said. Attempts by The Sunday Times to call her were unsuccessful.

Ms Chan Shwe Ching, an investor, began legal proceedings against Ms Leong last month. Her lawyer Michael Chia said the courts have allowed an injunction to freeze Ms Leong's assets within Singapore.

Ms Alina Sim, who is still Ms Leong's lawyer on record, said she was not at liberty to discuss the case.

Around 30 people have also hired a lawyer to launch a civil suit against Ms Leong, said an investor who gave his name as Mr Ong.

Mr Goh said he had dinner with Ms Leong just last month. Now, he and the other investors are hoping her family and the public will help to locate her.

"This is not a Korean drama, it is real," he said ruefully. "There are real people, real families involved."

[email protected]

[Arcachon]

In six months, they cheated 25 people of their hard-earned-cash.

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The four freelance sales executives from the now-defunct Mobile Air mobile phone shop at Sim Lim Square duped a whopping $16,149 from their unsuspecting customers between April 15 and October 27, last year.

Yesterday, Kam Kok Keong, 31, Kelvin Lim Zhi Wei, 32, Lim Hong Ching, 34, and Koh Guan Seng, 38, each pleaded guilty to between one and six cheating charges.

And their alleged accomplice and mastermind who was named in all of their charges was the store director, Jover Chew Chiew Loon, 33.

Mobile Air first made headlines in October last year after it refunded $1,010 to a customer in coins.

It was in the spotlight again the following month after a Vietnamese tourist was caught on a viral video kneeling in the shop and begging for a refund.

- See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapo....N7jRpdEG.dpuf

[Arcachon]

While investing in unusual assets like wine has become more popular in recent years, some local investors claim they have been left high and dry. At least 12 investors, including a doctor and a retired offshore contractor, have each told The Sunday Times similar stories of cold calls, hard sells and no returns.

They invested a total of more than $500,000 with Singapore-based wine investment companies, The Bottled Wealth Holdings (TBW) and Australian Wine Index (AWI), from as early as 10 years ago. Both firms were placed on the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) Investor Alert List in August this year as complaints grew.

According to the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case), between Jan 1, 2009 and Sept 18 this year, it received 66 complaints against AWI, TBW and Emily's Fine Wines, a retail and wholesale firm linked to TBW. It handled six complaints against AWI and TBW over storage and non-delivery of wine.

An Australian winemaker has also alleged that TBW has been selling his wines without buying them from him. This came to light when retiree Hau Tau Khang, 59, bought some wine from Emily's after a sales call promising three years of free storage and the option to engage TBW's brokerage services.

Mr Guillianno Mata, a Dominican national, is listed as director of Emily's and TBW.

But Mr Hau grew suspicious after requests to view his stock were not met and TBW brokers offered to buy back his wine at a 30 per cent profit if he reinvested. He filed a complaint with the Small Claims Court in May and Emily's was ordered to refund him. He showed The Sunday Times a receipt for 66 bottles of 2013 Hewitson The Mother Vine at $5,400, dated last October.

Yet, Mr Dean Hewitson, owner of the Australia-based Hewitson vineyard and winery, told The Sunday Times that he had not sold any of the 2013 wine to Emily's or TBW then, and that it was impossible for it to have been procured elsewhere as the wine had not been bottled at the time of sale.

Mr Hewitson said he had sold wines to TBW and AWI in the past, but Mr Mata later ceased communications. Mr Hewitson said he had earlier learnt that TBW clients were offered the 2013 wine, which Mr Mata had not discussed with him.

When contacted, Mr Mata insisted he had bought the 2013 wine from Mr Hewitson.

In September last year, the police were called when six investors went to TBW's One Raffles Quay office demanding refunds. Some were investors with AWI, which Mr Mata was still director of at the time.

Investors told The Sunday Times they were offered three years of free storage, and told that brokers would try to re-sell their wines in that time for up to a 30 per cent profit. Most said they have not seen a cent and alleged that they were overcharged for wines that the firms have made little effort to sell.

Some also bought trading agreements stipulating their wines would be bought back at market price if the firms failed to sell them, and said that these deals were not honoured.

While many AWI investors had problems that preceded Mr Mata - starting in 2003, while he bought the firm in June 2013 - they said the issues continued.

When Mr Mata set up TBW in February last year, lines between the firms were blurred as documents bore both logos. Mr Mata said the firms have always been separate. "I bought AWI, a broken-down business, and did my best to save it. If I have 1,000 clients, there will always be a percentage that will be complaining," he said. He sold AWI to its former managing director Alvin Lim this April. Mr Lim declined to comment.

Many of the investors have made police reports and lodged complaints with Case and MAS, but said no action has been taken.MAS said it encourages those seeking investments to deal only with MAS-registered entities to be protected by laws administered by MAS.

Lawyer Amolat Singh said while Mr Hau's situation may amount to fraud, the onus lies with investors to do their due diligence.

Mr Lou Ghirardello, managing director of online retail firm Wine Exchange Asia, said there should be an advisory panel to guide investors. "Something has to happen to protect these poor people, because this same thing has been happening time and time again," he said.

Mr Kueh Yong Say, a 65-year-old retiree, said he is looking for work again after losing hope of getting his investment of $100,000 with AWI back. "It is one of the biggest mistakes I have ever made," he said.

- See more at: http://business.asiaone.com/news/win....k3VtafyO.dpuf

[Arcachon]

SINGAPORE - A business school owner who cheated hundreds of students of almost $2.2 million in a fake degree scam was yesterday sentenced to 5 1/2 years in jail.

Ben Yap Chee Mun, 45, who owns Brookes Business School, pleaded guilty on Sept 7 to 30 charges of cheating, while another 282 charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Yap would train employees to sell various degree programmes purportedly offered by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) and one Brookes University. However, Brookes Business School was not authorised to offer RMIT programmes and Brookes University was in fact a sham institution set up by Yap.



The employees, who were called directors, were given commissions of between 40 and 60 per cent of the the course fees for each student recruited. Most students paid between $10,000 and $20,000 each.

In one case, a student by the name of Yeo Siew Chin paid $16,800 to Brookes Business School, believing she was signing up for an RMIT Bachelor of Business Management (Marketing) programme.

The scam, which spanned a period of about 4 years from 2004 to 2008, was elaborate. Potential students were told that Brookes Business School was certified by Casetrust and the Ministry of Education. Students were given documents such as transcripts bearing the letterheads and logos of RMIT or Brookes University to make the programmes appear genuine. Yap had even set up a company called Global Accreditation Commission Ltd in Britain to accredit Brookes University.

Yap's ruse began to unravel in December 2008, when Mr Clarence Lim, his business partner at Brooke's Business School, lodged a police report that someone representing former students was trying to extort money from the school. The police reported stated that several Brookes Business School students had complained that their RMIT degrees were not recognised by the Australian university.

At about the same time, information regarding the unrecognized degrees was spreading amongst the students and ex-students at Brookes Business Business School, leading to more police reports.

Subsequent investigations uncovered Yap's fake degree scams, as well as another "cash back scheme" scam that cheated three banks into disbursing student loans.

The scam saw Brookes Business School recruiting students to apply for study loans based on inflated course fees. The excess sums were then shared between the school, students and others who acted as brokers for the scheme.

Yap was sentenced to two years and 10 months in jail in March last year after being convicted of 13 charges related to the "cash back scheme" scam. Another 120 charges related to the scam were taken into consideration for this current sentence.

The 51/2 year sentence will run concurrently with last year's sentence, which Yap is currently serving.

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...am#xtor=CS1-10

[Arcachon]

http://www.france-inverse.com/arnaques-sms/

[Arcachon]

At least seven police reports have been made against a Singaporean businessman who is believed to have gone missing after allegedly taking his clients' money and gold.

Half a dozen local investors of Valiant Capital, a Singapore-registered gold trading company, said they had not received the dividends they were promised and had been unable to contact its director Simon Goh Chee Kin since June.

They invested a total of more than $2.5 million with the company, the six told The Straits Times.

All are former clients of the now- defunct gold trading firm Genneva Gold, which was raided by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) in 2012. The investors say Mr Goh is a former employee of Genneva who set up Valiant Capital in late 2012, promising to help them make back the money they lost.

They said they received monthly dividends of 1 per cent to 2 per cent for several months, before the payments stopped coming.

The company's Orchard Towers office has been vacant for months and the investors said Mr Goh used their money and gold to finance his operations in Shanghai.

Mr Goh, who is in his 30s, has also been accused of wrongdoing in China. A July 3 article in Shanghai Morning Post reported that about 300 Chinese investors, mostly senior citizens, were left stranded after investing an estimated 100 million yuan (S$22 million) with Valiant Capital's Shanghai office, and could not contact Mr Goh.

According to court records of Shanghai Xuhui district, Mr Goh and his wife Sophia Low are due to appear before the court next May as defendants in a civil suit over private lending.

In response to queries, the Singapore police said "it is inappropriate to comment on police investigations, if any".

Singaporean investor Chandran Nair, 63, lost $374,000 with Genneva Gold, and said he invested another $79,000 with Valiant Capital because he trusted Mr Goh.

"He said he's a former police officer and he has a wife and three young children. I went for his son's first-year birthday party."

The retired army officer and father of three said he is now working as a security officer to make ends meet. "I trusted (Mr Goh). He was a real sweet talker. Now we're all in limbo."

The co-director of Valiant Capital, who asked not to be named, said he had no knowledge of Mr Goh's whereabouts. He said that while he is still listed as a director of the company, he had stopped working for Valiant Capital months ago and is currently driving an Uber taxi.

"I had no power, I just followed Simon's instructions. People may say I'm the co-director and it cannot be that I didn't know anything, but it's true (that I didn't). My family and friends also invested and their money is gone."

He said Mr Goh's wife was finance director of the company. She is believed to be in Singapore, but could not be reached on her last known phone number.

Mr Goh had described himself in a 2012 interview with The Sunday Times as a "spender" and "risk-taker" who had been mired in credit card debt in his 20s before making his fortune trading gold and selling property. He also said he spent 11 years in the Singapore Police Force.

Valiant Capital is the latest gold investment firm to come under the spotlight here. In 2012, more than 10,000 investors lost their money to Genneva Gold. A year later, The Gold Guarantee founder Lee Song Teck went on the run. In February this year, more than 100 people lodged reports with the CAD against Suisse International.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced last month that it plans to tighten regulations on certain unconventional investment products, such as gold buyback schemes.

New regulations, to be tabled in Parliament next year, will require such schemes to be authorised or recognised by the MAS.

But for some investors, the safeguards come too late. Mr Nair said: "My 36 years of work, my lifelong savings are all gone."

[irisng]

At least when a person is coned by other people, they can report to the police but if your very closed relative secretly took your money (few thousands), thinking that you are not aware of it, will you all make a police report or let the matter rest and forgive her?

[Arcachon]

SHANGHAI - A Chinese court has sentenced the leader of a religious sect labelled a cult by authorities to life in prison on several charges, according to an official statement, with three of his followers also jailed.



A court in the southern city of Zhuhai on Friday also fined Wu Zeheng, head of the "Huazang Zongmen" sect, more than 7.0 million yuan (S$1.5 million), it said. The charges included organising a cult, rape, fraud and selling harmful food products.

Wu seduced dozens of women by telling them sex with him could give them "supernatural power", state media has said. He also operated a restaurant which claimed the food was cooked with "precious" ingredients.

A police investigation showed Wu had amassed an illegal fortune of more than 6.9 million yuan through his activities, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The court also sentenced three of his followers to jail terms of one to four years, but one of those tried escaped punishment, the statement said.

The group, which operates under multiple names, claims links to Buddhism.

Analysts say China has tightened control over religious worship, among other areas, under the administration of President Xi Jinping, who took office in 2013.

Authorities have targeted cults after members of one group beat a woman whom they were trying to recruit to death in a McDonald's restaurant in May last year.

In February, authorities executed a father and daughter, who belonged to the Quannengshen group, for the murder. Another 14 members of the sect, whose name can be translated as Church of Almighty God, were jailed for up to three years in July.

In another case, a celebrity Chinese "qigong master", Wang Lin, who claimed to conjure snakes from thin air and cure the sick, was held by police on suspicion of kidnapping and murder in July, according to media reports.

In a bizarre twist to the case, his ex-wife and mistress offered 2.0 million yuan in bribes to a policeman investigating the matter in exchange for information to help Wang seek a lighter sentence, the official Xinhua news agency said on Friday.

- See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/asia/ch....KV2Ggp0Y.dpuf

[Arcachon]

http://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore-new...ource=Facebook

Their dreams are shattered and they are feeling deep pain.

Mr Chandran Nair, 63, and another man, who wanted to be known only as Mr Chye, have lost huge sums in gold buy-back investment schemes.

Mr Chye, 41, put his loss at $2.2 million while Mr Nair said he lost $550,000 of his life savings.

They are unable to contact the man behind the scheme.

These losses have caused a painful change of lifestyle for Mr Chye and a stark realisation for Mr Nair that all the decades of sacrifice to build up his nest egg has come to naught.

Here are their stories.

FROM BUSINESSMAN TO JUICE SELLER
Up till two years ago, Mr Chye, a former IT businessman, thought nothing of splurging whenever he dined out.

He ate at top restaurants where each meal easily cost him a "three-figure sum", he said.

But after sinking a whopping $2.2 million into a gold buy-back investment scheme with Singapore-registered Valiant Capital in 2013, he is now forced to manage a fruit juice stall because it promised a more stable income, he told The New Paper (TNP) on Monday.

Investors like Mr Chye are now on shaky ground because one of the company's directors who supposedly called the shots, Mr Simon Goh Chee Kin, has gone missing. (See report below.)

Valiant Capital allegedly stopped paying monthly dividends to its investors after several months, allegedly citing slow business.

Said Mr Chye, a father of two young boys: "It's not only my money. Some of it belonged to my relatives and friends. It's all hard-earned money. It affects us a lot and our lifestyle has changed."

Mr Chye spends an average of 16 hours a day at his fruit juice stall "just to make a few thousand dollars a month''.

Although Mr Goh has stopped paying monthly dividends to Mr Chye, the latter continues to pay his backers a total of around $8,000 each month. The money comes partly from his earnings and partly from his savings.

Mr Chye said: "I had promised them the 2 per cent, so I will honour it even when it's a painful commitment for me.

"They (relatives and friends) were obviously frustrated with me when all this happened. They didn't say anything bad to me, but their unhappy faces said it all."

Still, he considers himself lucky to have a stable income despite earning "several times more" previously.

Said Mr Chye: The days of eating abalone at Ah Yat Seafood Restaurant or Crystal Jade are over. It's all simple meals at coffee shops now. And I have not gone for a holiday in the last year."

LIFE SAVINGS GONE
That the loss of $550,000 has hit Mr Nair badly is an understatement.

Said Mr Nair: "I inherited so much stress trying to recover what belongs to me. There were frequent misunderstandings with my wife and eldest daughter."

The retired Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) warrant officer, who previously drew a monthly salary of about $6,000, now works in the security industry.

With a monthly salary of $1,400, Mr Nair's financial situation has yet to improve.

Mr Nair, who has three daughters aged 14 to 29, said: "For 36 years, all I did was to save money.

"I didn't go drinking or take my family to lavish Indian restaurants. I could save (money) because my uniform, meals and transport were provided for by the SAF."

His misery is compounded by the fact that he lost money not once but twice to the same buy-back scheme.

Mr Nair first met Mr Goh in 2010 when the latter was a relations executive with Genneva Gold, now a defunct gold trading company that was raided by the authorities in 2012.

In Jan 27, 2010, Mr Goh allegedly sold a 1kg gold bar to Mr Nair for about $60,000.

In the next two years, to get more on his dividends, Mr Nair put into Genneva Gold a total of $374,000 or 11kg of gold.

When Genneva Gold was shut down, Mr Goh started Valiant Capital in 2013.

Said Mr Nair: "Simon said he could help recover our lost investments if we invested in Valiant Capital."

Mr Nair "pumped" a further $79,000 with Mr Goh, who became a director of Valiant Capital.

TNP understands Mr Nair had also lent Mr Goh a substantial amount of money throughout the years, according to documents signed by Mr Goh and his wife.

From July 2013 and for the next 11 months, Mr Nair received $1,500 a month.

But in July 2014, the payments stopped.

To date, attempts to recover Mr Nair's money and the gold, which had been surrendered to Valiant Capital for safe-keeping and a bigger monthly dividend, have all failed.

A cheque of $79,000 issued to Mr Nair by Valiant Capital's co-director Alvin Wee bounced in December 2014.

Mr Nair and 20 other investors have started a chat group to keep everyone abreast of the situation and of Mr Goh's possible whereabouts.

Said Mr Nair: "As a father, it's embarrassing that I have not bought any birthday presents for my daughters for the last three years.

"As a family, we now shop less and we don't celebrate any festivities. Sadly, my plan to reward the family with a car has to be put on hold."

It's not only my money. Some of it belonged to my relatives and friends. It's all hard-earned money.

- Mr Chye, who said he lost $2.2 million

'I'm also a victim'

More investors could be affected by the latest developments at Valiant Capital.

A Straits Times (ST) report on Oct 21 suggested that there were six investors who told ST they had invested more than $2.5 million.

Mr Alvin Wee, one of two directors of the company, told The New Paper (TNP) on Monday that the company had fewer than 100 investors.

Said Mr Wee: "Of course everybody is asking for their money (back). They're also asking 'where is Simon'?"

Mr Wee said he was unaware of Mr Simon Goh Chee Kin's whereabouts.

Mr Goh is the other director at Valiant Capital. Mr Wee last spoke to Mr Goh, a former colleague at Genneva Gold, in June this year.

Mr Wee is alleging he is also a victim after investing about $800,000 in Valiant Capital using funds belonging to family members and friends.

Said Mr Wee, 38: "I didn't want to leave the company (because) all my close friends, god parents and ex-colleagues have money invested in the company."

Being the only person in the Singapore office, Mr Wee said he faced the brunt of complaints and abuse by clients who demanded to be given cheques at the Valiant Capital's office in Orchard Towers.

Some of the clients had told TNP that cheques issued by Mr Wee had bounced.

Added Mr Wee: "Before I signed the cheques, I did counter-check with him (Mr Goh) whether he is able to fulfil his promises to customers. He said 'no problem' because he would arrange something from China."

STRANDED

But a July 3 report in Shanghai Morning Post said that about 300 Chinese investors, mostly senior citizens, were left stranded after investing an estimated 100 million yuan (S$22 million) with Valiant Capital's Shanghai office and were unable to contact Mr Goh.

A Singaporean investor, Mr Chye, 44, also a victim, told TNP he was surprised that there were problems in Shanghai.

In 2014, he had spent two months in Shanghai studying Mr Goh's operations.

Said Mr Chye: "The business there was good. Every investor came with cash. After a while, I realised we're not being paid in Singapore.

"Simon said it was because he still needed to fund the operations in Shanghai."

Investors should protect themselves

Valiant Capital is neither licensed nor regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said an MAS spokesman in an e-mail reply on Tuesday.

Investors can take steps to protect themselves by checking the Financial Institutions Directory at the MAS website for a list of financial institutions regulated by MAS and the regulated activities they are authorised to provide.

They should also consult the MAS Investor Alert List.

A MAS spokesman said: "MAS strongly encourages consumers seeking investments to deal only with entities regulated by MAS, so that they will be protected by the laws administered by MAS."

In 2012, investigations revealed that more than 10,000 investors had lost their money to Genneva Gold.

A year later, Gold Guarantee was in the news when its founder Lee Song Teck fled with investors' money.

CAD

In February this year, more than 260 investors had visited the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) after losing about $35 million to Suisse International, Today online reported.

The MAS spokesman added: "Regardless of whether an entity is regulated by MAS, it is an offence to operate a fraudulent or deceptive business.

"If investors suspect that there may be some criminal wrongdoing or fraud, they may wish to report the matter to the CAD, the principal white-collar crime investigation agency in Singapore."

Last month, MAS announced enhanced regulatory safeguards to protect investors' interests, which include precious metals buy-back arrangements.

- See more at: http://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore-new....M3fnQvdM.dpuf

[Arcachon]

http://news.asiaone.com/news/crime/s...nvestment-scam

Singaporean, 80, on the run over $72m US investment scam - See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/crime/s....e7BkNfmb.dpuf

An 80-year-old Singaporean man is on the run for his alleged role - including impersonating American government officials - in a US$50 million (S$72 million) investment scam in the United States.

An indictment unsealed last month revealed that the Singaporean, known only as F.K. Ho, was part of a syndicate that allegedly lured investors to park their money in a fraudulent scheme known as the "Cities Upliftment Programme" .


- See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/crime/s....e7BkNfmb.dpuf

At least 12 victims, including some outside the US, took the bait from June 2013 to August last year, Ms Dawn Dearden, a spokesman for the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, told The Straits Times. She declined to share more details about the Singaporean and how the scam was uncovered.

US court documents stated that Ho was charged with five counts relating to committing wire fraud, impersonating a US officer and identity theft, among others. His alleged accomplices included four Americans - Michael Jacobs, 64; Ruby Handler-Jacobs, 64; Lawrence Lester, 71; Rachel Gendreau, 46 - and Sri Lankan national Rienzi Edwards, 55.

They were also charged with numerous counts of committing fraud, identity theft, money laundering and impersonating US officers.

In December, Homeland Security Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested four of them. All six were charged in US courts last month, but Ho and Edwards remain at large.

The scheme was allegedly designed by investment banker Edwards, carried out with the help of couple Jacobs and Handler-Jacobs, and marketed to investors around the world through brokers Ho, Lester and Gendreau.

They allegedly told potential investors that it was backed by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and the investments were guaranteed by the US government.

In a statement last month listing the charges, Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara said: "In reality, it was all a lie; there was no government-backed programme and no plan to invest, only an alleged plan to steal the investors' money."

The group also promised "exponential" returns and claimed that a US$1 million investment would yield US$2 million a day, and could earn up to US$150 million in less than four months.

Investors would keep half, while the rest went to revitalising American cities recovering from the 2008 financial crisis.

To strengthen the ruse, the group produced counterfeit documents bearing names of real Fed officials and even impersonated them when meeting victims or speaking with them over the phone, alleged the indictment.

In one instance, Ho allegedly posed as a New York Fed representative in an August 2014 meeting with a potential investor in Manhattan.

But once the victims made transfers to bank accounts in the US, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, the money was wired to other accounts controlled by Edwards. When investors did not get their money back, they claimed the programme had been delayed. In most cases, they ceased communication with the victims.

Soon after the charges were released, Edwards rejected the accusations and claimed he did not know the others in the alleged scam.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney Daniel Noble from the US Department of Justice's Complex Frauds and Cybercrime Unit.

Court records showed that Lester and Gendreau appeared in a New York court last Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the three charges each faced. Their cases will be mentioned again in April.

- See more at: http://news.asiaone.com/news/crime/s....e7BkNfmb.dpuf

[tanghao]

Said Mr Chye: The days of eating abalone at Ah Yat Seafood Restaurant or Crystal Jade are over. It's all simple meals at coffee shops now. And I have not gone for a holiday in the last year."

LIFE SAVINGS GONE
That the loss of $550,000 has hit Mr Nair badly is an understatement.

Said Mr Nair: "I inherited so much stress trying to recover what belongs to me. There were frequent misunderstandings with my wife and eldest daughter."

The retired Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) warrant officer, who previously drew a monthly salary of about $6,000, now works in the security industry.

With a monthly salary of $1,400, Mr Nair's financial situation has yet to improve.

Mr Nair, who has three daughters aged 14 to 29, said: "For 36 years, all I did was to save money.

[thomastansb]

I won't take the risk to go to those unknown small companies if I want to invest. And also diversify the risk among the biggest players. I know some people believe in if I can't see it, I don't buy it motto. Pretty wise motto.