GOLD INVESTMENT SCAM

KOTA KINABALU: About 30 people who claimed to have invested a total of RM1 million in a gold trading scheme are crying foul after failing to see the 'lucrative' returns as promised by the investment company at Gaya Street here.

The group led by the chairman of the investors' action committee, Md Zain Mohd Asri, gathered at the ground floor of Wisma Fook Loi Thursday morning demanding payments from the company located on the 11th floor.

However, they were told that there was nobody in the office of the company.

Md Zain said they were disappointed with the company for "leaving them in a lurch after they had poured money into its investment scheme starting from December 2010." He told reporters that sometime in December 2010 he was among some 100 people who attended a briefing by the company's representatives at Marina Court here.

At first many of the investors like him purchased 10gm of gold, which was the minimum quantity, and true enough one month later they were paid by the company a profit of RM700.

"So many like me were convinced and we increased our investment," he said, adding that he invested a total of RM180,000 by purchasing one kilogramme of gold.

Md Zain said he signed an agreement with the company that he would get his money and the profit upon one year when the agreement matured.

However, they began to worry when the company kept on giving excuses when they asked for their money.

Perhaps in order to quell the investors, the company, Md Zain said, held a dinner function at 1Borneo where all of them were given a mock cheque as well as a cheque photocopy with the amount of money they were supposed to get.

Unfortunately, he said, after six months and the cheques had expired, they still did not see the money.

"When we asked the company about it, they told us that they can issue a new cheque to us," he said.

Fed-up with the excuses, Md Zain said the investors grouped together and formed an action committee headed by him and one Abdul Ghani Prawawi, and submitted a memorandum asking the company to pay them back their money.

"Instead, the company replied that those who signed the memorandum will have their accounts terminated," he said, adding that if the company wants to do that they should return the money to them first.

About two weeks ago, the group lodged a police report and despite having interviewed the woman CEO of the company who is a Dato', "nothing happened."

"We hope the authorities will seriously look into this case. We only want our money back," he said, adding that they hoped their exposure would stop people from being duped in the investment scam.

Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament Hiew King Cheu, who accompanied the group, said he only acted as the co-ordinator since the people came to see him.

"As Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament, it is my duty to look into the matterÉI believe this case is cheating because the agreement had not been honoured.

"I don't blame them (investors) for coming out in the open because they need to air their grievances after no action has been taken by the authorities," he said, adding that it also showed that the authorities like Bank Negara Malaysia should beef up their monitoring.

Hiew said it was the third cheating case that he had taken up here, with the first being involving foreign exchange (forex) and the other via telephone calls.

"I hope the public will be wary of such scams and don't fall into the trap.

There is no easy money," he said, adding that it would be very difficult to get back their money lost in this scam. (DE)