Man badly burnt by Sunshine Empire scam....
A taxi driver invested $81K in Sunshine Empire and lost most of it. Sunshine Empire collected a total of $180M from Singaporeans and operated for about a year before the authorities stepped in:
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He mortgaged his house to invest in Sunshine Empire
In 2007, Singaporean bus driver Vincent Leo Teng Fong mortgaged his property in Malaysia for about RM200,000 ($81,980) and invested the money in more than 10 Sunshine Empire Gold Prime packages.
As reported in Shin Min Daily, he only received one rebate of RM26,000 from the company after his initial investment. The New Paper reported that he even introduced the company to his mother.
Vincent Leo testified in court on Oct 7 that he got to know about Sunshine Empire through a friend named Sze Li.
She told him that the company had attractive packages with high rates of return. Sze Li and her husband, Mr Jacky Neo, said that if he bought the most expensive Gold Prime package, he could get rebates of US$700 ($981.19) to US$800 every month, and he will recoup his investment in 10 months.
They also offered him a "buy eight get one free" promotion which they claimed would allow him to "break even" in six months and earn him an additional $60,000 bonus in two years.
A few days after meeting the couple, he was invited to Sunshine Empire's office at the HDB Hub in Toa Payoh for a briefing. At the briefing, Jacky Neo told Vincent Leo that Sunshine Empire was not just a multi-level marketing company.
He said that it was developing theme parks in Malacca and Cebu, and was setting up a radio relay station in Taiwan on top of owning a number of franchises and that the high returns were generated from investments and businesses like these.
Mr Jacky Neo even bought him his first package - a Silver Merchant package. He told Vincent that he didn't have to pay as long as he brought friends up.
The briefing convinced Vincent Leo to buy 10 packages between July and October 2007. According to The New Paper, his mother also bought four Gold Prime packages; in total, his family bought 16 Gold Prime packages. Each package cost $12,000.
The New Paper also reports that Mr Leo went to Malacca to attend the "ground-breaking ceremony" of the "theme park", where he saw James Phang, founder of Sunshine Empire.
In early 2008, he realised that his rebates were shrinking, and they stopped completely in March 2008. When he wanted to withdraw his investment, he found that he could not print out the withdrawal form from the company's website.
He eventually made a police report.
a. With a large segment of the population not financially literate, can we afford a 'light-touch' 'buyer beware' approach?
b. Why did the authorities take so long? Is it time the CAD takes a more proactive approach when it comes to such unregulated investment schemes?
How did so many ordinary Singaporeans get cheated by Sunshine Empire? Slick marketing.....watch this:
The man behind Sunshine Empire, James Phang, has a dubious record of operating various scams. One of them involved investing in a resort in Batam known as Magic Kingdom. Investors who lost money approached Case and local authorities but were told nothing can be done about because the scheme was run from Indonesia[Link].
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Link
He mortgaged his house to invest in Sunshine Empire
In 2007, Singaporean bus driver Vincent Leo Teng Fong mortgaged his property in Malaysia for about RM200,000 ($81,980) and invested the money in more than 10 Sunshine Empire Gold Prime packages.
As reported in Shin Min Daily, he only received one rebate of RM26,000 from the company after his initial investment. The New Paper reported that he even introduced the company to his mother.
Vincent Leo testified in court on Oct 7 that he got to know about Sunshine Empire through a friend named Sze Li.
She told him that the company had attractive packages with high rates of return. Sze Li and her husband, Mr Jacky Neo, said that if he bought the most expensive Gold Prime package, he could get rebates of US$700 ($981.19) to US$800 every month, and he will recoup his investment in 10 months.
They also offered him a "buy eight get one free" promotion which they claimed would allow him to "break even" in six months and earn him an additional $60,000 bonus in two years.
A few days after meeting the couple, he was invited to Sunshine Empire's office at the HDB Hub in Toa Payoh for a briefing. At the briefing, Jacky Neo told Vincent Leo that Sunshine Empire was not just a multi-level marketing company.
He said that it was developing theme parks in Malacca and Cebu, and was setting up a radio relay station in Taiwan on top of owning a number of franchises and that the high returns were generated from investments and businesses like these.
Mr Jacky Neo even bought him his first package - a Silver Merchant package. He told Vincent that he didn't have to pay as long as he brought friends up.
The briefing convinced Vincent Leo to buy 10 packages between July and October 2007. According to The New Paper, his mother also bought four Gold Prime packages; in total, his family bought 16 Gold Prime packages. Each package cost $12,000.
The New Paper also reports that Mr Leo went to Malacca to attend the "ground-breaking ceremony" of the "theme park", where he saw James Phang, founder of Sunshine Empire.
In early 2008, he realised that his rebates were shrinking, and they stopped completely in March 2008. When he wanted to withdraw his investment, he found that he could not print out the withdrawal form from the company's website.
He eventually made a police report.
26 comments:
Hope the would-be victims learn too, and for free.
Take care of yourself, don't expect anyone else to do that and things will be OK. Unless of course you are plain unlucky.
Getting back their initial investments after 10 months will tell you that Sunshine is running a fishy scam.
Did any of the investors make a police report during the early stages when they were getting such rich rewards? Of course not, stupid me. That's life.
Beware the promise of false 'prophets'
I like the fact that the sales chart in the video has a Chinese translation underneath which clues us to the target audience.
Also the bizarre message of being both traditional and revolutionary, which would sound contradictory except for the target audience.
I'm always disturbed that this kind of marketing works. I guess there are lots of people who appreciate motivational material.
Erm right. You pay the HIGHEST salaries for your government, then expect the LEAST out of them.
Great logic.
How do I go about investing my money with James?
Thanks Lucky for sharing that inspiring video with us. I think it's also a good time for me to brush up my Mandarin and calligraphy.
With the 2 Casinos to be ready soon, it will be more common.
BTW any savers here with no debts at all and still some savings like a 5 figure sum in the bank? Things are dire for the common folks.
I just afraid that after the case is settled and over, the government will mention about prosecuting people who invests in it and did not declare income tax and no one dares to claim back what is left.
Then who gets to kept the few millions that is still there?
NRIC: S8040039Z
Daniel Tan
NRIC: S8008368H
Jackie Hoo Choon Cheat
NRIC: S7921939H
James Phang Wah
NRIC: S1378642I
Daniel Tan is still at large.
If you have information about him, please contact:
Commercial Affairs Department
Address : 391 New Bridge Road #06-701
Police Cantonment Complex Block D
Singapore 088762
Tel : (+65) 1800 325 0000
Fax : (+65) 6223 3171
Email : SPF_CADWebmaster@spf.gov.sg