Conned by Sure-Win Scam

Today, I read in the newspapers about a woman called Rose Tan who managed to con her victims of $421,000 by promising an investment that gives 10% returns a month.

The money was never invested but was instead used by Rose for her personal expenses.

To make her story believable, she even used some of the money collected to pay out “dividends” to the investors.

This brings us to an important point. A track record of payment is insufficient evidence that an investment is real. A pyramid scheme can give the illusion of legitimacy by using money from new investors to pay off earlier investors. What counts is how the returns are being made.

In this case, even though the culprit was ultimately caught and dealt with by the law, only $112,000 of the money was recovered.

Caveat Emptor.

Conned by Sure-Win Scam (Straits Times)