BUKIT MERTAJAM: Yet another 'money game' scam has been unveiled in the state.
This time a group of investors claimed they have been cheated of RM703,000 in total after they invested in a forex trading company called RCFX since 2014.
The single biggest investment was RM150,000.
A spokesman for the group, who only wanted to be identified as Tan, 29, said they suspected something amiss when the person handling their investments, known as Lau, started coming out with all sorts of excuses each time they asked about their promised return since last year.
He said what baffled them further was the fact that the company Lau was attached too started to change names too frequently.
"We called Lau to enquire about our return and he gave all sorts of excuses each time. Of late, however, Lau has refused to even answer our calls.
"That was when we realised that we may have been cheated," he told newsmen at a press conference called by Bukit Mertajam MP Steven Sim at his service centre here today.
More than 10 investors were present at the press conference.
Tan, a manufacturing planner, said they first met Lau in 2014 through social media, where the latter introduced them to the forex trading. They subsequently met Lau at cafes to hand over money for investments.
"It was indeed a colourful scheme. Those who chose to trade manually were promised a four per cent return (of the total investment) monthly, while those who chose automatic trading were promised 10 per cent return. It was better than what banks promise.
"At that time, we thought nothing about it, except to make some extra cash. About 29 of us, aged between 24 and 50, got some of our friends to invest and we managed to collect RM703,000 in total.
"In the beginning, we saw the promised return coming in nicely on paper. However, each time we wanted to withdraw our promised return, Lau would say that would reduce our capital and we could end up getting lesser return.
"When we started to question him often, he transferred USD$2,000 into one of our accounts and that was it," he said.
Tan said Lau's company in Persiaran Karpal Singh on the island has since closed down, and the last they heard was that he had moved to Kuala Lumpur.
Tan lodged two separate police reports in July but there has been no progress to date.
"We fear for our safety by coming forward to lodge the report but we are at our wit's end," he said.
Meanwhile, Sim urged the police to expedite investigations and for Bank Negara Malaysia to act on companies offering such schemes.
Checks showed RCFX was one of 394 companies in Bank Negara Malaysia's alert list.
Two such Penang-base 'money game' scam have been busted in recent months -- JJ Poor to Rich (JJPTR) forex trading operator and MBI International, virtual shares operator.
Both companies were being probed by the authorities.