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Genneva Gold Raided in Singapore and Malaysia

Gold trading firm Genneva Gold was raided by the authorities in both Singapore and Malaysia in a simultaneous operation yesterday.

In Singapore, the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) moved in to seize documents and computers for investigations.

In Malaysia, multiple agencies which included officers from the police, Bank Negara, the Companies Commission of Malaysia and the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism jointly raided Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd and its affiliates.

genneva goldThe reporting from Malaysia newspaper The Star seems to be more negative towards the raid as it contained interviews from a few customers who were against the raid. These customers clearly have the misconception that the payments stopped or will stop as a result of the raid.

It is important to understand cause and effect.

Typically, when most ponzi scams finally default on their payments, the company will always blame it on the authorities for shutting them down.

But whether the authorities raid or not, such schemes will have to stop one day.

For Genneva’s case, the payments were in fact stopping before the authorities moved in.

The payments stopped because they were unsustainable.

Genneva sells you gold at 20% markup. Give you 2% every month.

Buy the gold back from you at the price you paid them (So they actually make 0 profit).

Now, where is the 2% per month going to come from? Yet, there are still people who are insisting that the 2% come from the 20% markup made by the company.

I quote here the last paragraph of the Straits Times article:

[warning]Genneva is not regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and has been placed on its investor alert list of unlicensed entities. Consumers deal with these companies at their own risk.[/warning]

Raids on gold trader in Singapore, Malaysia (Straits Times)

Gold trading firm Genneva’s offices raided (The Star)

Leave a Comment:

16 comments
SiangMalam says 11 years ago

Hi all, need your advice… anyone heard about Royal Gold? The company has now insurance coverage that their GOLD INVESTMENTS ARE FULLY INSURED BY BANK NEGARA ?!?!??!?

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    TTH says 11 years ago

    Rumored is saying that Royal Gold was the one who issued the ‘fake’ letter so that they can announce their insurance coverage for more publicity. So be careful !

    Reply
SiangMalam says 11 years ago

Hi all, am Genneva client. Read thru the FB and found the “fake memo” http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=392993590772169&set=a.339455556125973.76080.300205763384286&type=1&theater
Goshhhhh … who did that ya ?!???!?

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Annoying Me says 11 years ago

News from BusinessTimes Singapore 16 Oct 2012:

Tharman states MAS stand on gold buyback
But if needed, it will refine its regulatory framework

[SINGAPORE] Gold buyback schemes are currently unregulated, but the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will continue to monitor market practices and refine its regulatory framework if necessary, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said yesterday.

In a written reply to a parliamentary question that comes after this month’s raid on the offices of gold trading company Genneva Pte Ltd by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD), Mr Tharman, who is also Finance Minister and MAS chairman, added that running a fraudulent or deceptive scheme is an offence under the law regardless.

“Like most other financial regulators around the world, MAS does not regulate schemes that involve investors acquiring direct ownership of physical assets, such as property, gold, art or wine,” said Mr Tharman.

However, it will continue to monitor market practices and investment landscape trends, and refine the regulatory framework where necessary, he said.

Mr Tharman urged investors to consider how returns in any scheme are generated and find out whether there is any protection or recourse should the operator fail.

http://www.mas.gov.sg/en/News-and-Publications/Parliamentary-Replies/2012/Reply-to-Parliamentary-Question-on-Gold-Trading-Schemes.aspx

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Annoying Me says 11 years ago

BNM Press Statement 10 Oct 2012 on recent joint raids on goldcos
——————————————————-

http://www.bnm.gov.my/index.php?ch=en_press&pg=en_press_all&ac=2674

Ref No : 10/12/08 Embargo : For immediate release Update on joint raids conducted by enforcement agencies on companies suspected of conducting illegal investment schemes using gold The Attorney General’s Chambers, the Royal Malaysia Police and Bank Negara Malaysia, would like to provide the following update on the recent raids against companies suspected of operating illegal investment schemes using gold.

These raids were conducted in the interest of protecting the investors as well as the public at large from falling victim to illegal schemes.

Based on surveillance and examination conducted on these companies, it has been discovered that these companies are operating schemes that are believed to be not sustainable to provide the promised high monthly returns, nor would they be able to provide the buy back guarantee of gold. Such schemes are not sustainable because the returns promised are not funded through gold trading, but from the monies invested into such schemes. The investigations have also revealed that the amount of assets and monies held by these companies do not commensurate with the amount collected from their investors.

Prior to the joint raids, it has been noticed that these companies have delayed in returning gold or money to the investors within the stipulated time as promised. Such signs are early warning indications prior to the collapse of such schemes that would result in significant losses to investors.

For more information, members of the public may contact the following:

BNMTELELINK (Customer Contact Centre)
Tel: 1-300-88-5465
Fax: (03)2174 1515

——

I wonder what the pro-GenNever camp and GenNever supporters facebook will have to say now?

The Attorney General’s Chambers of Malaysia
The Royal Malaysia Police
Bank Negara Malaysia Bank Negara Malaysia
10 October 2012

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Annoying Me says 11 years ago

Did You Know?
————

Did you know that the names of 4 individual being charged for Genneva Sdn BHd in the 2009 case are:

1) Ng Poh Weng, 61,
2) Marcus Yee Yuen Seng, 59,
3) Chin Wai Leong, 35, and
4) Liew Chee Wah, 57 ?

They are also the same directors of Genneva Malaysia Sdn Bhd which deals with gold trading and was raided by BMN. They claimed all their gold were certified by G-Beam.

G-Beam stands for Gold Bullion Enterpreneurs of Malaysia and it’s supposed to be a registered society in Malaysia.

Did you know that Marcus Yee Yuen Seng is the Vice-Chairman of G-Beam, Chin Wai Leong is also the Vice-Chairman of G-Beam and Ng Poh Weng is the chairman of G-Beam?

Meaning the G-Beam was formed to certify their own dealing of their own company Genneva. This is a toal conflict of interest. There is absolutely no 3rd neutral party that was made to scrutinize their dealing, their accounts and their transaction of billions of ringgit.

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GENNEVA = PONZI says 11 years ago

Sambu
05/10/2012 at 23:43 (UTC 8) Link to this comment

Reply

Genneva is the opposite of ponzi.
Which ponzi will openly sponsor Starwalk?

SAMBU, the answer for your question is…..GENNEVA

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Cheah Ming Choo says 11 years ago

Hi Sambu,
For your information it is not the goldco which sponsored Starwalk. Every cent is from the CON-SULTANS. As the Chinese says “use the buttock skin to give one the facial look”. Go look into Benny Madoff’s more than 20 years ponzi and you can find them to be “socially responsible”. Pls do your research.

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Anantajeet says 11 years ago

    http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2012%2F10%2F5%2Ffocus%2F12127137&sec=focus

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p c wong says 11 years ago

Dear Mr Martin Lee,
Again I have to say it: your blog is severely compromised by mischievous elements who repeatedly post under other posters’ nicknames, with intent to confuse readers and cloud the issues.
If you can take some pro active measures to eradicate this menace, all readers would surely appreciate it a lot!
P C Wong

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KLbull says 11 years ago

Dear Martin Lee,

I’m glad you are now saying Genneva and ponzi in the same breadth. For your information, Genneva Malaysia was a main sponsor of the 2012 Starwalk in Penang just last month.

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    Sambu says 11 years ago

    Genneva is the opposite of ponzi.
    Which ponzi will openly sponsor Starwalk?

    Reply
      KLbull says 11 years ago

      Genneva Malaysia, currently the most pervasive of all suspected ponzi schemes in Malaysia, openly sponsored the Penang Starwalk 2011, 2012 and the Ipoh Starwalk 2012 to the tune of RM hundreds of thousands. Its objective? Buying mainstream media influence and garnering publicity. The print media still has substantial reach in Malaysia.

      As an aside, ask what political types currently call the shots at The Star newspaper? What kind of people are they? What motivates them? What is the political slant and journalistic quality of its reporting?

      Reply
        Joe P says 11 years ago

        Most of these companies are desperate to get themselves attached to something reputable. It makes people believe in them – its called reputation by association (or marketing) !. Look at any recent scam or alleged scam and you will find a celebrity, charity , religion or big organisation like the world wildlife fund or English premier league attached. A scam can spread like wildfire in a church group due to the level of trust and belief between members.

        Also once a big name is attached it makes it hard for the authorities or media to challenge them. The buzz is self sustaining very often until after the company fails. There are still people around the blogs who believe their UK land banking investments will come good. Anyone with any kind of insight has been predicting problems for Geneva Gold”s model since day one.

        Reply
Jason says 11 years ago

Based on my experience with scammers/victims around me, it appears that the few big names like Geneva, Gold Guarantee, Asia Pacific Bullion, SG Gold etc are just the tip of the ice berg. My conjecture is that there are probably dozens of similar gold scams that are operating on a smaller scale in Singapore.

These smaller companies tend to be 2-4 man show, renting small office spaces in old commercial buildings. A common story I heard being pitched is these con-artists claim to be gold trading experts but lack the capital and thus are inviting people to put in money to invest in their company. But the overall picture is the same, selling marked up gold and promising 18%-24% annual interest, encouraging their “investors” to pyscho more people into joining.

A colleague of mine recently quit his job claiming he is retiring because he has achieve passive income of 5k monthly from this gold nonsense. People are now taking bets on when he will be back at work again.

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Magdalen Ng says 11 years ago

Hi, this is Magdalen Ng from The Straits Times. If any Genneva customers would like to share their experience with their investment in the company, please email me at [email protected]
Many thanks!

Reply
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