SIAS moves to educate investors from falling prey to scams
TODAY file photo
SINGAPORE — After losing some S$450,000 of his life savings on scam investments, 69-year-old retiree Nishan Singh was caught up with so much worries, he started suffering multiple health problems such as glaucoma, prostate and knee problems.
Recalling the countless sleepless nights he had, he said: “You can’t run away because it’s always on the mind... It’s very stressful and saddening, knowing that this was my hard-earned money that I could have used.”
Mr Singh is one of the many victims of the high-profile Profitable Plots (PP) case, where two British directors Timothy Goldring and John Nordmann of land-banking firm Profitable Plots, were jailed seven years and eight years respectively in 2014 after cheating investors of around S$915,000.
Mr David Gerald, president and chief executive of investor rights watchdog Securities Investors Association Singapore (SIAS), said that 356 of the firm’s victims have approached the association with complaints that they had not received their investment monies with the returns promised by the company directors.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday (March 23) at a press conference, Mr Gerald stressed the need to ramp up efforts to caution other like-minded Singaporeans against falling prey to such scams.
“It seems there’s no end to foreign rogues preying on Singaporeans who are attracted by the promise of high returns… (Investors) should beware of ‘too-good-to-be-true schemes’… The red flags must go up,” he reiterated.
To help this group, SIAS said it would be launching a service within the next two to three months. Three researchers running their own private research company called Research Room LLP have pledged to work with SIAS to identify the risk areas. The association’s officials would then meet with the investors and give them guidance accordingly, but not investment advice.
Consultations will be free for SIAS members, while non-members have to pay $5 to $10. Membership application is available on its website.
Mr Gerald pointed out, however, that even with such consultations, investors would ultimately have to make their own informed decisions before proceeding with any investment.
On top of this initiative, the SIAS has a programme titled Understanding Money, launched in 2014, to educate vulnerable senior citizens about the risks and pitfalls of making investments — close to 700 participants across 12 Community Clubs have been involved so far.
Part of the services provided by SIAS include helping investors who have been conned to make police reports, and it also partners two leading law firms to help give pro-bono advice to investors.
One other victim from the PP case, Madam Eleanor Teo, 61, said she had poured in nearly half a million into various investments with the firm, after being promised 300 per cent in returns. Then she lost her job in 2010 and her mother had a serious stroke. When she approached PP for the payouts, she realised it was a sham.
The retiree, who is single, said: “Emotionally, there was a lot of anger and betrayal. It was very hard to accept how this sort of thing could happen to me… I can only hope the authorities can do more to prevent investors from such a hurtful experience.”
