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Reader says...
I have been very sad and disappointed with these alternative investments that we had ventured with stupidity.
Like the Chinese sayings goes, for really good deals, "there is no such golden duck jumping around on the street". In other words, there is no such good deals.
If that is the case, why is our government still not educating people well about alternative investment, seeing a lot of them got their fingers burned due to such dodgy business.
We invested into alternative investment by XXXXXXX Holdings and got engaged with an agent from XXXXXX Solution Management Pte Ltd, a vendor of XXXXXXX Holdings contracted to do sales and marketing for their alternative investments products.
In total I have $71K invested.
We only received $10K and no payout since Nov 2016.
I wanted to report to the police many times, wanted to engage a lawyer to sue them for breach of contractual agreement and not paying up per contract.
But I was advised against this by the agent saying that law suit cases will delay the process to get back some money from these investments.
I had requested from the agent to share with us the list of investors that had been affected and maybe we can write some letters to MAS, the newspapers or to the police to warn the public regarding such scams and cheats, but the agent refuse to provide.
She said it was not a scam or fraud, just bad investments.
Sometimes I believe we need some authorities to know and take action on our behalf or at least for general public to be aware of such companies and be cautious about investing their monies with them.
Appreciate your advise and anyone who can enlighten my worries.
AK says...
I believe I blogged about XXXXXXX before.
Unfortunately, there isn't much you can do apart from seeking legal advice and let the law take its course for whatever it is worth.
I believe there is little MAS can do to help you either because these "investments" are not regulated.
I feel your sadness and I hope you will be able to recover some capital.
Read related post at the end of this blog and know what questions to ask when offered such "investments". Read its comments section too.
Related post:
Invest $10,000 and get 24% yield!
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8 comments:
MAS maintains an Investor Alert List on their website. But since new scams are hatched all the time, this list is unlikely to be exhaustive.
Investor Alert List
Dear Reader, you admitted you were stupid and greedy, but now you want the government to be responsible for your loss? What if the "investment" had gone swimmingly, would you hold the authorities responsible and surrender the profit to them?
Hi all,
I am of view that the concerned investor should lodge a Police Report on such investment. Let the Authority decide whether they intend to take up this complaint. In addition, there is no need for the concerned investor to inform the agent that he/she lodge a police report lest letting the car out of the bag. If the Police Authority decides to take up the case and commence the investigation, there is a possibility that the invested amount can be recovered and returned to the concerned investor. However, I foresee that this will take years to do so. Having said this, I am of view that the wait is worthwhile and there is no need for the concerned investor to engage a lawyer to recover the invested amount as it is likely that the legal cost might cost more than the invested amount. Leave the Authority to handle this case. Apart from the Police Authority, the concerned investor can also lodge a complaint to Monetary Authority Of Singapore on this matter. The same also applies in my suggestion in not alerting the agent and company of his/her complaint if he/she decides to do so in lodging the complaint.
Last of not least, I believe that the agent or company or third party may entice the concerned investor to plough in more money with the "promise" to the concerned investor of getting full sum back. I will not suggest the concerned investor on his/her decision and believe that he/she makes appropriate and sensible decision.
My two cents worth of opinion.
Ben
Hi AK, hoped you had a good day. Wanted to extend my thanks for you as a reader whom had benefited from your blog.
As an new wannabe value investor, may I know how many years of financial statements did you studied for each company? I had read the book about Warren Buffet (the book you recommended, it was good and easy~ Thanks!) and he recommended we used 10 years worth of financial statements to pick the tread of the company. But I soon realized that all the free resources we could get online (google finance, yahoo finance, morning star) only provide up to 2 to 3 years of past financial statements.
Do you subscribe to paid services to obtain more detailed financial statements for your good work? Sorry for the trouble to my queries.
Hi Shanny,
Please remember that we are not Buffett. ;p
Personally, I am more opportunistic than structured in my approach and this is why I have said before many times that I am bad teaching material. ;)
For sure, you can subscribe to publications like The EDGE or services like Shareinvestor.com as they might make life easier for you. :)
Wong Yao Keng says...
This is somewhat similar to the crimewatch crimes where you stuff your plastic bag with money and expect goldbars kind of thing. Somehow I don't feel this is common. For one, I don't even know where to look for this kind of alternative investment. Even if this is unsolicited, in what circumstances is the fraudster likely to approach the victim?🙁
AK says...
Aiyoh. They are everywhere. Now, they even have roadshows lor. I saw in Toa Payoh and Bukit Merah before. They work very hard to grow wealth (for themselves). :p
http://financials.morningstar.com/ratios/r.html?t=ULTA
Check out this link. It gives you 10 years consolidated FS/BS/ Cf statement
unfortunately think they dont have singaporean equities.
If our mindset that government is responsible for your bad investment, you got a long way to go because there will be serious lack of due diligence.
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