Gold Scam II: The Golden Goose Got Slaughtered

Posted by Kris | Friday, March 18, 2011 | | 20 comments »

The golden goose got slaughtered. 

Here is the modus operandi. See here. Gold Scam: The Golden Goose

Here are the articles on the initial denial by the operators that the business is legit and sensible& sustainable. And later on you will see that the operators got indicted for illegal money laundering by Bank Negara. Both news article appear in the TheStar newspaper. 

I wonder what happen to the victim's money?! All gone? I have not yet see any victims going forward to press charges or appear on TV seeking Datuk Michael Chong's help to recover their investments.

Wednesday July 15, 2009

Genneva sells gold and is not a ponzi scheme, says firm



PETALING JAYA: Genneva Sdn Bhd, a company that sells gold coins and bars to the public, said its business model is not a fraudulent investment operation.
“There may be Ponzi schemes in the market but it is obvious that Genneva is not one of them,” group senior manager Tony Yao said.
We have a uniquely profitable, viable and sustainable business because our product which is gold is a safe haven in any time of uncertainty and is not subject to wild fluctuations in price in the world markets,” he said in a statement in response to Monday’s StarProbearticle.
He said Genneva’s business model “enables customers to purchase physical gold at a discount” compared to domestic market prices.
The company also provided a conditional buy-back guarantee for the purchase at the same price that the customer had paid for the gold.
“What we do is we share our profits with our customers,” Yao said.
He said Genneva sources its gold needs from the international market, where prices can be lower by as much as 17% compared to the recommended retail selling prices by the Federation of Goldsmiths and Jewellers Associations of Malaysia.
The firm then sells its own issued gold coins and bars to the public at a discount compared with prevailing market prices set by the federation. It still would make a profit on these sales.
“We also provide a conditional buy back guarantee for our purchasers who may want to resell their gold after buying it. We are able to generate continuous income from our profits made from trading gold to enable us to repurchase gold from our customers if they wish to sell it back to us,” Yao said.
Under the scheme, Genneva’s obligation is to buy back the gold at the same price without discount after a so-called 90-day holding period. There is a week’s grace to sell the gold back to Genneva. Any sale back to Genneva before or after 97 days will be at lower prices to be negotiated.
Yao said Genneva gave a discount of around 5% on the domestic market price set by the federation. The discount is paid either at the time of purchase or up to three months after that in instalments.
Yao said Genneva guaranteed the standard and purity of all gold coins issued by the company as 99.9%. This means customers can also sell their gold coins or bars purchased from Genneva at any goldsmiths that accept gold trade-ins.
“Gold is expensive to sell because goldsmiths generally give you a lower price than actual market value when they buy from customers,” Yao said.
In the statement, Genneva said the company’s business of buying and selling physical gold does not require a licence to operate from Bank Negara.
“Genneva is no more than an ordinary goldsmith shop with an extraordinary business model,” Yao said. On June 28th, the group formed Samudra-GV Sdn Bhd with “a vision to open up the gold market to Malaysians of every race and religion by making the product available to people from all walks of life.’’
“In the near future, our gold product will be rebranded as SGV Bullion,” the statement said 


Thursday March 17, 2011

Trio claim trial to charge of illegal deposit-taking


KUALA LUMPUR: Three directors of a gold investment scheme company, already facing money laundering charges, faced the Sessions Court on charges of illegal deposit-taking.
The three directors of Genneva Sdn Bhd – Ng Poh Weng, 61, Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, 59 and Chin Wai Leong, 35 – pleaded not guilty to the illegal deposit-taking charge yesterday.
Under Section 25 (1) of the Banking and Financial Inistutions Act 1989, they are liable to be fined up to RM10mil or jailed up to 10 years, or both, if convicted.
They are alleged to have committed the offence at 52A-1, Jalan Kuchai Maju 6, off Jalan Kuchai Lama here between November 2008 and July 2009.
Yee also claimed trial to another charge of illegal deposit-taking brought against the company.
On Oct 14 last year, the three men were charged with 707 counts of mo­­ney laundering involving RM550mil.
Bank Negara Malaysia prosecuting officer Alvin Ong Heng Kiat applied to the court to have both cases heard together as they involved the same witnesses.
Counsel K. Selva asked for the RM1mil bail imposed on the three men for the other case to be extended to the current case as well, which Judge S.M. Komathy Suppiah allowed.
He also allowed the cases to be heard jointly and set March 21 for re-mention before Judge Rozana Ali Yusoff.


20 comments

  1. ChampDog // 6:26 PM  

    Thanks for the sharing. This kind of scam like never finish. It has been there since I was young until today...

  2. Kris // 12:04 AM  

    @ChampDog,

    Unfortunately, the victims of such scheme never grow up and learn from such mistakes. They always fall prey to such schemes. Furthermore, there is alot of exposure on TV, newspaper, etc on people's folly on the get quick rich scheme.

    Rgds,
    KnowThyMoney

  3. Anonymous // 1:34 PM  

    So what is the outcome of the court cases Dec 2011. Pls highlight me.

  4. Kris // 6:14 PM  

    @Anonymous, I don't hear anything about the court cases lately.

    If you are one the investors, i suggest you go quickly to get back your money.

    Seeing the fate of Bestino, most likely that Genneva Gold will suffer similar fate.

    If you searched TheStar achives, Bestino manages to protray itself as a legitimate and expanding business. They are "supposely" involved in international gold mining in Papua New Guinea (i believe), biotech, reputableable third generation Ipoh jeweler business etc.

    But now, we know that all that was just a front for the gold scams.

  5. Bulldogz // 11:46 AM  

    Today is the 14th febuary 2012.

    And the so called scam is still going strong as I still collect my dividen for the past 6 months..so for those who are still searching for the truth just go to the office which they newly launched with prominent public figures and see for your self.. internet have its fair share of negativity..

  6. Kris // 7:52 PM  

    Bulldogz,

    Then you are very lucky. There are tons of helpless victim out there as pointed in the TheStar newspaper :P

    Anyway, its your money and you taking all the risk. So everything is up to you :P

    Which scheme are you participating in? Just curious..

  7. Bulldogz // 11:52 AM  

    Geneva ...

  8. Anonymous // 12:52 AM  

    Bulldogz,
    Great to read your comment. May I ask if I was going to buy 5kg of gold bullion, where is the HQ right now? Do you have their Hq contact number?
    thank q so much.

  9. Bulldogz // 11:34 AM  

    Somewhere in old klang road and I am not frm geneva good try though and I buy frm my finance director and we have already done our risk analysis the rest is up to u and if u think other wise call me on this number and you will know I am an ordinary jack
    018 2898434

  10. Anonymous // 2:04 AM  

    Dear Bulldogz,
    I had invested RM19.5K in 2009 and Geneva got busted and I only received one payment of 400 plus.Last week I contacted their HQ and the marketing rep told me one called Tony can went out and will call me back and till now he didnt get back to me. It is a scam. If you want see justice,just ask Geneva pay back my initial investment back to me.I have all their proof of purchace documents.

  11. Anonymous // 12:24 AM  

    i am curious. don't they offer gold buy back guarantee. why you didn't get back your initiate investment?

    if this is scam, why somebody still can get their interest consistently.

    i really don't understand.
    by the way, i planned to join genneva. However after reading this blog, i hesistate to join now.

  12. Anonymous // 3:13 AM  

    yes.. i am also introduced by my friend about this geneva and advice not to keep money in FD, however i am still skeptical about this scheme, so far eventhough FD rates are low, still it is safe and i have piece of mind rather worrying every single day about the investment for next 3 month!!.. .Always trust your instinct..if it is something good to be true.. then dont go for it.there is always safe way to invest your hard earn money however its gonna take time.

  13. newbie // 7:00 PM  

    I'm confused too. Today a friend also encouraged me to join this scheme and put money in Genneva. She put 1 million and has been getting 20 over thousand in interest every month. for one year now. and she even managed to buy a house in cash. She made it sound so good. But when something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I read that even our ex PM Dr Mahathir launched Genneva's new office opening. And it is being published in the Star as well saying how good and how stable it is.
    I really don't know what to think.

  14. Shaggy // 6:55 PM  

    Today is 30th May 2012. No news on the court case? I bought 1kg from Geneva 2 years ago and has been receiving "hibah" of about 4k a month since. If it is a scam, then they can sustain for almost 4 years?

  15. Anonymous // 12:06 AM  

    For those Muslim out there 'trading' gold with Genneva, in Islam there is no such thing as 'hibah' or gift when you trade gold. It is simply buy and sell gold, you get profit, full stop, and nothing else. There rest are pure scam, the high premium they take from you is used to pay the one before you. The one after you premium is used to pay you your dividend. One day it will all come crashing down. There is no easy money in the world except marrying a rich widow ;-)

  16. Anonymous // 2:40 PM  

    Today Geneva Malasia and in Singapore is blacklisted by BNM and Money Authority Singapore under the Alert Watch List.
    How can a person put in money 30% more than the market value and collect back the 6% money which is actually your own money and claim they are making money. If the company fold up, the poor victim will be stuck with a high priced gold bar and will make losses when it is sold at market rate (on condition that the gold price drop and drop which will happen when the USD appreciates)
    Please dont fall for this, only the greedy will be blinded and only want to hear the good side.
    The company can never be Syariah compliant as the people in there are non muslims and use scantily clad sexy girls to promote. The agents are out to fleece as they only want their commission.
    They use New customers money to pay the old customers hibah or interest.
    Lets watch the fun when Gold price dips to an all time low and it is already happening.

  17. Bulldogz // 8:02 AM  

    For the latest post on BNM blacklisting genneva ,please go to the BNM site and read properly instead of inputting incorrect facts they are being caution of parties using BNM approval to gather sales and I have been with them for 2 years now and I havent seen such documents

    Yes I agree there are risks involve here and I myself have reduce 50% of investment with them so to speak
    but anyone with half of a brain and really thinking of investing would mitigate all their risk instead of spreading false facts

    So those of u who think this is a scam just don't invest simple as that don't get jealous of this who already made it back their initial investment.

    this happened recently as there were almost 40 individuals who cheated a local bank of 75 million with fake gold of so called unreal pure gold and ...geneva is doing so well that....there would be certain elements like money laundering individuals who would use this platform to..

    last but not least like I said im pulling out 50 % and have checked my gold and its 99.9 pure so if I hold another 2 years ill still gain its been 10% year on year since 5 years ago so go do u r math!

  18. Timsook // 5:24 PM  

    I got a few friends who went in. They were enjoying good "returns" until the raid.

    As with most of the buyers, they all claimed that the company has kept its promise and payments were never late, for the past 6 years or 4 years constant payment...

    this is easily achieve, if the consultant you buy from is a very active consultant, surely you get your payment!! if your consultant is a lousy one.. you will not get your payment constantly. In that manner, there is always a GOOD story to fall back on.

    If one claimed that the payment is not there.. someone else will say.. "Cannot be..... I received or my friend received constantly what..".

    Most people want to choose to believe that statement because it is nice to hear! so the scam can continue. Until such time, when the CONsultant run out of CONtacts to CONvince then all sorts of excuses will come from the company.

    that is how it works :)

  19. Kris // 9:38 PM  

    TimSook,

    Sadly, there are still people falling into the same trap all over again.

  20. C3Geek // 1:47 PM  

    I heard my friend told me about this scam long long time ago. She said she did't mind losing the money because normally the first-comer will earn the profit, and the late-comer will suffer. She was pretty sure she belongs to the first-comer group but later she didn't get as much as she thought though.