“They use a variety of ways including using our close friends to lure us into an investment scheme,” said a member of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) who was once approached by members of a get-rich-quick syndicate.

Only wanted to be known as Sulaiman, 54, he said members of the syndicate would normally approach the victims at various locations such as coffee shops and hotels where the victims would be invited for a briefing to find out more about the special investment scheme offered.

“During the briefing, they highlighted a number of high-profile personalities who were said to be successful after joining the investment scheme and they came with luxury vehicles to convince the victims,” he said when met by Bernama here recently.

He said EPF contributors were targeted because they were considered as those with money, where the contributors had the opportunity or were eligible to withdraw all their savings when they reached 55.

Sulaiman was fortunate enough to know his financial management and mass media exposure of victims deceived by such syndicates or a get-quick-rich schemes, enabled him to fend himself from falling into such trap.

Although there were no fraud cases involving EPF contributors reported in the state received by the police or consumer associations thus far, he did not rule out the possibility that it could have happened, but without victims lodging a complaint.

In this regard, Kelantan police advise the public, including EPF contributors, to be cautious of the various fraudulent tactics, particularly through phone calls and social media, that have grown in recent years.

Kelantan Commercial Crime Investigation Department chief Mohamad Zulmazi Che Daud said the police detected fraud cases involving losses amounting to tens of thousands of ringgit, via online, umrah and haj pilgrimage packages, phone calls, property sales and multi-level marketing (MLM) investments or businesses.

He said the most reported cases were fraud via phone calls, where individuals sent a message saying they wanted to put some money into the victim’s account, and the victim was usually told to change the pin number to enable huge amount of money to be banked into the account.

“The victims only realised that they have been deceived upon checking their accounts and found a certain amount of money in their accounts went missing,” he said.

He said there were also victims who were deceived through online transactions where they paid the money but did not receive the items purchased and the seller usually disappeared and changed their phone numbers to avoid detection.

Zulmazi said a total of 287 fraudulent cases involving umrah and haj pilgrimage packages were recorded from 2012 to Sept 2017.

“In 2016 alone, six cases were recorded with losses amounting to RM298,990. The syndicate members usually used modus operandi by pretending to be pious person to deceive the victims especially senior citizens,” he said.

Commenting on the issue, the Credit Counseling and Debt Management Agency (AKPK), an agency under Bank Negara Malaysia, advised the public to first identify the type of investment offered and the potential returns so that their money would not just disappear.

There are various types of investment in banking products and securities approved or regulated by authorities such as Bank Negara and the Securities Commission.

Each investment has its own potential returns and risks i.e., the higher the potential returns of an investment, the higher the risk.

“However, one has to be careful, as there are various types of investment out there that are not recognised or approved by the authorities and make sure you choose the investment channel that is safe to guarantee a good return on investment,” Kota Bharu AKPK chief Mohd Rizauddin Noor told Bernama.

Among the illegal investment types were those schemes that promise high returns over a very short period of time that could attract many investors to join, he said.

Unlucky investors who were caught in such fast-paced investment schemes would eventually lose everything, their dreams of becoming rich turned into the worst nightmare.

“By promising a very low or almost no risk, these syndicate members would lure the victims with a high return guarantee in a short time. They are good at convincing the victims to invest money in the scheme and eventually the investment money will disappear,” said Rizauddin.

He said although many such schemes have been identified by the authorities and some of them had been arrested and prosecuted in court, they seemed to be at it in no time and set up new schemes to deceive new victims.

The syndicates constantly improve their tactics by introducing the so-called different features to avoid being detected and arrested by authorities with various unique features added or processed to attract new investors, he said.

He said there were also illegal foreign exchange schemes involved investment in foreign currencies with aimed at obtaining high returns.

Investors were usually attracted to the lucrative returns promised and an easy online access of the said investment, he said.

He noted that investors were fed with invitations to attend free seminars and workshops explaining how much return they would have earned before they were asked to open a foreign currency trading account with a company that allegedly possessed a valid currency-trading licence.

He said after depositing a certain amount of money into the account, investors would always be asked to increase the investment due to lack of initial investment margin and to avoid capital losses.

“These schemes are now likely to use graduates from institutions of higher learning to promote their investment system, not only do they often look neat and knowledgeable about talking about world currency markets, they can also influence family members and friends more easily to invest in the investment scheme,” he said.

“The Exchange Control Act 1953 (ECA) clearly states that it is an offence for a person to buy or sell foreign currency, or involve or connect or indulge in any action of buying or selling foreign currency with any individual or company that have not obtained permission from the authorities to carry out such activities.

“Therefore, if you are invited to invest your money in foreign currency investment schemes by parties other than legitimate currency traders, you may be the next victim of illegal foreign currency syndicates,” he said.

He also said the internet investment scheme was more known among the IT literate generation who use the Internet and social media to gain information and use online facilities in their daily life.

This investment offered a huge profit in return, at a much higher rate than those offered by other licensed financial institutions and they also convinced the investors that the investment risk in their scheme was very low, some skilled scheme operators even promised returns without any risk involved.

Potential investors would normally be approached by the syndicate via a website or email, with free financial advisory as well as being persuaded to invest with them and a majority of such individual or company operators of this investment scheme would normally be unlicensed as deposit receivers and were not authorised by Bank Negara.

They also did not obtain a license or approval from the Securities Commission to provide investment advice relating to securities or futures activities, not to mention the fund management activities in Malaysia.

Rizauddin also advised the public to watch out for illegal deposit taking activities where the scheme also promised high return, although the scheme operator did not have the authority or permission to take deposits from any party as Bank Negara only granted a license to the bank or certain companies to receive deposits from the public.

“The syndicate in this scheme operated by convincing potential investors through initial returns from proceeds from other new investors. Investors are then persuaded to reinvest in a larger amount to enjoy higher returns.

“Investors may also be encouraged to promote and invite friends to join the scheme, however there is no guarantee that the scheme operator is able to continue paying the promised return if they or you have failed to get new investors. Finally, this scheme will fail and investors face losses as operators disappear with accumulated investment funds,” he said.

He said frauds carried out via SMSes, e-mails and phishing were another trend in the new millennium.

SMSes were sent randomly to offer attractive prizes and great rewards whether cash or luxury items, and lucky recipients would be required to contact them again with their personal information such as identity card numbers, bank account numbers and bank account passwords in order to collect the prizes.

Once the user responded to the e-mail, the syndicate would access and transfer the money from the user’s bank account using the information provided. The SMSes and emails often sent to user regardless whether the user did have an account in the said bank, but there were still victims who fell prey to such tricks, he said.

He also urged the public to be careful of any offers received via SMSes or e-mails and should ensure that the source was a legitimate party, as well as to refrain from clicking on any suspicious link, especially when conducting an online banking transaction.

Rizauddin also said that AKPK provided a variety of financial education services specially designed to help each individual to learn how to take control of the financial situation and cultivate a smart credit-use habit that would surely give them the peace of mind.

- Bernama