Hello Grasshoppa,
This may be a Guide for you just in case you are approached by your long lost friends or your new best friend for some good investment deals. If you are into investing, this may be something you might come across once or more but how do we know which investment is a scam & which is legit? One thing for sure, those investment scammers will always take the extra mile to make their scam looks real.
Below I have listed some of the Investment Scam Warning Sign for Your Reference :
1. Guaranteed High Yield Return & No Risk
As we all know, there are no such thing as Guaranteed Return & No Risk unless it’s Fixed Deposit. Remember Grasshoppa, “Durian Runtuh” Investment is not possible unless it’s a scam.
2. No Proof of Investment or Non Reliable Proof
You may want to ask those agent on where they invest their investors money. Some of them might not have any supporting proof to prove their investment is real. Or you may have some that are able to share some information that seems to be dodgy.
3. Not endorsed by Bank Negara or Securities Commission
You can refer Financial Consumer Alert List by Bank Negara & Securities Commission for further detaide. There are long list of companies that on the Alert List so make sure you check it out.
4. They Pressure You Into Making Quick Decision
Normally those agent will tell this “You trust me lah.”, “You will miss the boat if you dont invest now.”, “Many people already invest & earn so how can this be a scam?” & many other convincing words to pressure you to make a decision. Calm down. There is never too late in investment. Don’t let other people influence your decision making especially when it comes to YOUR MONEY.
Types of Common Investment Scam in Malaysia :
1. Forex
2. Agar Wood
3. Palm Oil
4. Arowana Farm
5. Gold
6. Money Game
7. Cryptocurrency / ICO
8. Multilevel Marketing (MLM)
9. Hotel / Land / Property Deal
It’s important to do your homework & investigate those companies before you invest.
History On Investment Scams :
1. Bernie Madoff
This guy is definitely a Legend to begin with. During the Court Trial after his arrest in 2008, he confessed that he ran his scam as early as 1991 . According to some documents that was presented in Court, his scam started as early as 1960s. List of his clients are some of the richest & most influential people in the world. Some International Banks are also his victim such as HSBC Bank. Estimated amount of his client fund is $64.8 Billions & that makes him the Largest Ponzi Scammers in the World. Want to know more story about his Scandal? You can get his book here.
2. JJPTR (JJ Poor To Rich)
First of all, how can we believe a 29 years old man that claims he studied Finance in USA & able to generate consistent return of 20% a month? Introducer will get 5% Commission Monthly upon successful referral. This “Too Good To Be True” money was offered by this Penang based company that went bust in 2017. The Founder of JJPTR claimed that their company account was hacked & USD400,000 went missing.
Suspected Investment Scams :
1. LaVida Coin
Famous Beauty Mogul, Dato’ Vida have launched her Cryptocurrency called LaVida Coin which she plans to raise $1.5 Billion to fund a Online Channel, Payment Gateway & a Mosque. Dato’ Vida have personally guaranteed Return of Investment for LaVida Coin since the Token is cheap now. That’s a huge statement especially for Cryptocurrecy which is known to be volatile. Bank Negara have recently added Lavida Coin in their Financial Consumer Alert List as per NST News.
Conclusion :
There are hundreds of Investment Scam out there & what can you do to avoid it? It is always important to do your homework in detail since the money you are investing is your hard earned money. Don’t be greedy over some so called good investment deals as it might end up to be an Investment Scam. If you find any suspicious Investment Scam out there, feel free to report it to Bank Negara via this link.
OSS!
I was just contacted about a durian investment giving 19.86% per year! Company called Plantation International. Never heard of them before. They just contact me out of the blue. I report to PDPC. How do people fall for such things? Be careful all!
Thanks for sharing the information David 🙂
I’ve the same doubt as I was also contacted by them. Any action or advise replied to you from PDPC and how do I check if it’s legitimate from PDPC ?
Look. I’ve Worked There Before. Guys. If You Recieve The call. please dont scold or harrass the caller. let me tell you why. How The company do it is. they’ll give the callers a script and force the caller to read it. like it or not you need to or else the “managers/management” people’s will stand beside them and forced them. cause every call is recorded and some of them the “managers” are listening to. so. let me simplified the script and what they will tell you. 1st thing is. they will call you. and greet you like they’re your friend. and then they’ll talk a bunch of stuff to you and suddenly tells you that you’ve won a apple watch , vacation voucher and a hotel voucher. then they’ll say the want to invite you to mid valley to claim the price (they want you to listen to thier seminar/talk about the investment thing) but they’ll say it as “a lunch buffet” then they’ll say that you have a chance to win a mercedes and 50 thousand ringgit. then they’ll ask you 3 question to see if you’re qualified. 1st question: are you married or single. 2nd: how old are you (they’ll give 3 option A,B and C) and 3rd: your household income. if you’re qualified they’ll tell you where to go and they’ll send you invitation email and etc. that’s about it. but once again guys. if you recieve the call. please dont harrass the caller. as the caller knows nothing about the company. cause I’m thier Ex-Employee I know. We Even Question if the rewards are true. and we even asked to see the rewards but the management never show us. or give us more details. they just ask us to call the “customer” and read the script. we as a caller we didnt know that it is a scam company or what so ever. so. if you recieve the call. simply just tell them “im not interested” and direct hang up. cause they have another piece of paper to counter your “Im not interested” so. just hang up after you say that.
They contacted me as well, their website looks legit but ….
DAVID WEBB- I am based in Hong Kong and also just been contacted by Plantation International. Hear is what they wrote-
Dear ,
Hope that you are well. Due to an overwhelming amount of feedback we have decided to produce a one page snapshot summary regarding our Musang King Durian tree plantation opportunity in Johor, Malaysia that is offering a 19.86%+ Annualized Returns.
This document was created with you in mind and aimed to assist you and answer any questions that you may have, in an easy to use and in a quick and effective manner.
Daniel Shaw
Director Of Client Relations
Plantations International
Plantations International
MK Durian Harvests Sdn. Bhd.
No. 338 Jalan Tun Razak
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 50400
Direct: +60 3 9212 2107
Office: +60 3 9212 7281
Good sharing. It is common in Malaysia with such “investment” opportunity. It’s important to verify before invest in such company.
so are they scam or not got contacted too
What’s the recommended way of verifying this ? I searched through BNM website but this company is not “blacklisted”. Appreciate some advices here as I made the first payment to them, and I’m trying to get a refund from them.
Let me share my experience about a scam in Malaysia involving durian trees few years ago. The company promised “guarantee” high return when the durian tree can be harvested in the 6th year onwards. My brother and I were convinced it was a legitimate investment as the company let us see the durian trees before we pay them over RM100K. Before year 4, the company has been closed down without us even realising it. The certificate of ownership was virtually useless as the landowner claimed all the trees on his land belongs to him now.
Lesson learnt. Before you invest in anything, ask yourself who will GUARANTEE that the company providing the “guarantee return” will still exist in the next few years???
Thanks for your sharing Ben.
Hi Guys , I also received email from Daniel Shaw and just called by Steve Kerr with the same offer
Hi AA, did you manage to get your refund? My husband was also paid huge amount to this company. I’ve spoken to their staff at Tun Razak and Mid valley office. Sound so suspicious and fishy. I know its a scam. I said if i cannot get details information about the musang king project, i will lodge a police report.
Then sudently one “Paul ” return call to me claimed that he was from legal department for the company.He said for refund process my husband needs to call him becoz the contract name was between my husband and the company. But i guess the money will definitely gone
if you want to try may be you can call this so call paul. I guest they have so many english name.0176472650
If he did not manage to get the money back then we will lodge a police report.
Hi Nina, yes that’s the same Paul whom talked to us. My husband however decided to reduce the investment to a minimum amount as he’s still have faith in them 🙁 though I don’t agree with him. How about yours ? what made you suspicious of the legitimacy ? What sort of details you requested from them ? because they provided a certificate with lot# for us, their website has also full of testimonial and on site videos.
Hi there,any of you manage to get back your refund on this? I dealt with this company called Plantation International too.
Is there any possibility to do a land search on the plantation and see if they really have the land?
Hi AA & Nina,
Did you guys managed to get the refund? or any return of investment?
Hi there what is the outcome on above discussion regarding refund? I am also in this boat. Nina did you get your money back? I never thought I would get scammed!. But looks like I did!
Anyone successfully gotten their refunds?
Possible Investment Scam?
Durian Trees?
Durian Plantation?
This could be a new scam strategy to maybe take our Malaysian hard earned monies out of Malaysia. I was a victim but I didn’t give them any money
1. Cold caller call targets who are earning between rm10k to Rm15k per month to lure them to attend a 90 min talk to invest in Durian Trees. In the call they treat the targets like a VIP and it is run by foreigners during sales pitch in mid valley. They are aggressive in their follow up
2. They lure targets with a so called free smart watch and free staycation offered. Then later tell targets that they will need to pay for the insurance of the watch and booking fee for the stay which were not as represented and not genuine
3. They further lure targets with cash or car lucky draw and free food and durian product samples. Unsure if there is such thing but targets will definitely get free food and product samples. They don’t allow you to buy the samples as it may create evidence trail
4. Targets are being taken through presentation where targets are presented a set of numbers to pay RM10k++ net for a durian tree for 20 years with a min investment about RM30K++ for 3 trees. There is another RM3K min for admin and legal fees and admin fees. They will give you a good sales pitch and offer you an irresistible offer of up to 20% per annum on buying a tree that will not generate any commercialised fruits yet for the next 5 years min
5. The structure is also complex with the plantation holding company and land owner is in Singapore and Hong Kong. If anything happens, targets may not be able to get them. I don’t have a copy of the contracts as I didn’t invest. They will also use investors to Lure other targets using them as targets and pay them handsome investor refer investor scheme. They have been selling agarwood schemes previously too
6. Only the plantation management company is in Malaysia from the structure they showed me
7. Targets will only own the tree with certificate of ownership and insurance on the tree and nothing else with all the monies paid. There is no security upon the ownership of the trees with a promise to take care and sell the fruits in the future. The company is first timer in Durian plantation from what I understand but they projected that they are hiring experts which is why the trees are sold at that price for them to plant and care the trees for you
8. First few years, nothing will come in as they offer you 8% discount per year on the first few year which to me is just a mark up and give back to give impression that it is creating value to the targets
9. It will take about 5 years for durian tree to mature. So expect nothing after targets paid the money for 5 years
10. They will sell and take 30% of the selling price and targets get 70% based on the market value from whatever durian from the trees they invested. There is no certainly and no proven track record by this company
11 Company is first timer into durian plantation from the Facebook and newly setup
12. Targets were told that all communications are only via email not call as they don’t entertain targets after the sales pitch especially if targets did not invest
14. During pitch, targets will have all the Westerners to present to them to build credibility and trust with a greatly designed facade to make targets feel good. Sales closing and transactions are done on the spot. They also represented many investors with photos and unverified land ownership and investors.
15. Targets don’t even get to appoint their own lawyers to represent them and
I was just contact by the same offer by AgroForestry.. and why i check it was rebrand from plantations international
They are legit, they are regulated companies http://www.afgagarwood.com, they explain the rebrand is because they split from main company.
I can assure everyone that the Durian trees exists, the name of the correct company is Agroforestry Group Sdn. Bhd. My wife and I went to Johor on a tour and saw our 20 Mao Shan Wang trees, they gave us an app we we can login and monitor the trees in real time. I seen both there offices in KL and Johor and met with Alfred, the guy who runs the Johor office and Paul Martin in KL who I think is the owner.
The Plantations International have a new proposal now for a mango plantation in Thailand, with returns of > 17.x%, paid out from year 1 onwards. They even attached valuation report from Mazars. i have written to Mazars, see if they will reply.
Any reply from Mazars ? Are they legit ?
aNy reply from mazars ?
They are a scam copying other real companies, when will people realise? They are a scam WHO bought a domain name to scam people and blame legal companies, pls wake up people
The most active durian scammers in Malaysia is the Agroforestry Group, they have a very large office in midvalley mall, I almost bought from them but my wife saw the red flags, i checked them out with the SSM and the SSM is fully aware and has had multiple complaints. by the way the SSM was talking it appears that they will be raided soon.
I found this website doing research and Harrys comment about SSM really got me upset. They are a government office and it is illegal for them to do what he said and reveal private information like that to general public. I deal with SSM all the time and also contacted them but did it the real way through my business lawyers because I am interested to buy durian production from them.
If there is a real issue with a business in Malaysia they say it on their public warning list. I am a business owner and hate lies that can impact businesses that’s why I am writing this. SSM confirmed to my business everything is in order like registration, ownership and company submissions such as annual accounts. This Harry person must have other agenda.
For any business, my advice is always 5 steps. Number 1 don’t trust anything on the internet ever good or bad, Number 2 go see the business with your own eyes, Number 3 talk to professionals with experience if don’t know the business well, Number 4 talk to a lawyer and Number 5 don’t put all your money in one business.
Pure scam. A guy called Mario run the scam. They don not have one tree. Nothing. Total fraud. They offer me buy 10 trees, we give you free 3 trees. They have no tree. Nothing. Disgusting