Illegal Deposit-Taking

Looks like another form of scam in this hard times. One of my friend even was so convinced that this was a legal business that she joined in as a marketer for them and had made sales close to a million. She was trying to complete the 1 million dollar target as that would have earned her 1 thousand dollar every month in passive income alone.

Bank Negara team swings into action against Bestino Group

By LOURDES CHARLES

KUALA LUMPUR: Bank Negara has frozen the assets of Bestino Group Berhad, pending investigations into its alleged illegal deposit-taking and issuance of redeemable preference shares.

It is learnt that a task force had begun a full investigation into the company and its related activities following reports that Bestino had issued preference shares worth more than RM300mil to investors.

Sources said the authorities were investigating if the company had other branches besides those in Ipoh and Petaling Jaya.

It is learnt that investors were initially given gold bars with the face value equivalent to the amount invested.

However, they claimed that after several months of investing with Bestino, they were told by the company that Bank Negara did not allow the company to collect more than RM500mil in cash.

An investor, who declined to be identified, said that when he invested with the company in 2006, he was given gold bars with the face value equivalent to the amount invested.

However, he said those who wanted to invest in April last year were issued redeemable preference shares with a promised return of 3% per month.

source : http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/6/18/nation/4142281&sec=nation

Making Money With High Returns

Just received an sms from a long lost school time friend. It reads like this:

"Hi mate, I know you are busy making money to sustain monthly operations, enjoy life to the fullest and save for the good OLD days yet to come. So, 18 to 30% per year returns. Solid, secure & safe. Oh yes, legal, ethical and simple. Money makes money. 1.5 to 2.5% monthly return. Minimum RM2500. Think about that. Try moving from a 2.5% per year FD saver to a 2.5% per month investor. You are still young, you can't afford not to."

What do you guys think about this? As for me, it is another one of those get rich quick schemes. Somehow, these guys have very good marketeers and convince others easily. Pay attention to the words "...Solid, secure & safe. ... legal, ethical and simple". All the words needed for you to part with your money. But at the end when you realise that you have been conned, these words won't mean anything to you, will they?

Want To Get-Rich-Quick? Think Again..

When talking about about good investment tools, I should not forget to mention the growing number of ponzi or get-rich-quick schemes that is coming in all sorts of forms. These masterminds that create them use different kinds of techniques and strategies to get people involved in it. Somehow, in between the legal investment machineries, these schemes manage to squeeze in and play with the emotions of its victims- GREED and FEAR.

For the last months, I've been hearing about some Gold Investment Scheme, supposedly backed up by some established goldsmith in town. They are giving 3% a month, which totals to 36% annually. You also get to keep the gold you purchased. But the catch seems to be they only give you the gold after 2-3 months.Why that long? Figure out yourself...

Then comes another scheme - with envelopes. You buy 5 postal money orders and send out to the company, and within a few weeks, you will get back more postal money orders that you can cash in.

Another version that I heard was even better. This guy used the idea of selling each pixel on his monitor (the idea that made the original person to be an instant millionaire from the use of Internet), but incorporated some get-rich-quick philosophies into it. So, you get to have a pixel on the company's website and then when you get downlines of your own, you are paid certain amount for your effort to bring in those victims!

And I'm sure more and more schemes such as these will be mushrooming soon as the economy is still in a daze and people are looking out for ways to make money. As I mentioned earlier, we succumb to our greed and fears, especially when we are in a desperate situation. Again, we have to discipline ourselves not to fall for any of these tricks. If you do, you are sure to lose your investments!