Comparing the numbers, MCA public services and complaints bureau chief Michael Chong said for the first seven months of 2016, there were only four complaints on the issue.
“There was a 100% increase for the rest of last year, with eight complaints made to us.
“This has now been topped with 10 cases being reported between January and July this year,” Chong said.
He added that in the 10 cases this year, the people affected claimed to have been cheated of RM4.3million.
“It is not a matter of only 10 people being affected in the 10 cases. One case may involve more than a hundred victims, all of whom were cheated in a scam,” he said at a press conference in his office here with members from the Direct Selling Association Malaysia (DSAM) and Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation (MCPF) Kuala Lumpur branch.
He added that up to 80% of the victims were men.
Chong warned too, that the RM4.3 million in losses for these victims of money game scams may just be the “tip of the iceberg”, with the potential losses to a larger group of people possibly being more than RM1 billion.
He lamented the greed that people showed in continuing to fall for such scams despite the years of having press conferences to highlight such illegal activities and the fraudulent methods involved.
“I am still baffled why some are driven by greed to invest in the so-called ‘quick returns’ and ‘high interest’ scams. There is no such thing as a free lunch. You need to work hard to get profit.
“Because of greed, relationships with their families and friends become strained, as the friends and family members who were recruited in money games were cheated of their money too,” he said.
He added that his only advise to the victims who were cheated, was to tell their family members to support them.
“I cannot give them back the money that they have lost. So, all I can do is to advise victims’ family members to be at their side at this times, and do not fight with each other,” he said.
Chong, who has been managing the party’s complaints bureau for more than 30 years, hopes that investment scam operators will one day face criminal charges for their actions.
“So far I have not read any reports or seen any photographs in the media of alleged culprits being taken to court,” he said, when asked if he knows of any investment scam operators being charged in courts before.
DSAM president Tan Chong Guan, who was also present at the press conference, told the people to not put their money into companies who offer dubious investment schemes.
“Scam investment companies usually have no products they can sell. They will only attract the people to invest,” he said, adding the public can check with the domestic trade, cooperatives and consumerism ministry if such companies have a valid licence.
Chong also handed out Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) list of 334 companies which are not authorised nor approved to collect any deposits or investments, under BNM’s relevant laws and regulations.
JJPTR forex investment
Among the companies listed are CYL Asia Enterprise, JJPTR, MBI International, and MonSpace (M), all of which have been alleged to be investment scams.
The issue of money games gained attention a few months ago after forex investment company JJPTR claimed hackers had siphoned off RM500 million from the company’s account.
JJPTR’s money game investment scheme was established in 2015 and promised returns as high as 20% a month to members.
Authorities from the police, BNM, the Companies Commission of Malaysia, Inland Revenue Board, National Revenue Recovery Enforcement Team and Cyber Security Malaysia had on May 12 raided JJPTR’s Penang office.
Subsequently, JJPTR founder Johnson Lee and two aides were arrested, remanded and released on bail in a few states before being released while investigations continue.
Investigations on the company are being wrapped up, according to Penang Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) chief Abdul Ghani Ahmad.
Besides JJPTR, pyramid investment scheme company MBI Group International has also come under the authorities’ radar after domestic trade, cooperatives and consumerism ministry officers raided their M Square logistics centre in Ampang and M Mall, a shopping complex in Penang.
The ministry had also seized RM2.23 million in cash and properties and froze their bank accounts said to contain RM30 million.