MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Manchester United fans deserve better from the team, manager Ruben Amorim said following their 1-1 draw with Arsenal on Sunday after the day started with a protest from several thousand supporters outside Old Trafford.
So due to his cautious nature, he was sceptical when a friend told him in 2022 about an investment scheme that not only paid out unusual returns but allowed flexible withdrawal of funds, The accountant, identified only as Lim, was not convinced even after he carried out some research and found out about its consistently good payouts.
But Lim, 58, caved in after a chat with a relative who swore she had been receiving monthly returns of between 5% and 7% each month over the past seven years. “What started with a RM6,000 investment, gradually rose to over RM1mil from funds that I had saved up for my old age,” he said in an interview.“I withdrew some of the returns and bought a second-hand luxury car,” he said.But three months later, the scheme operators pulled the plug. They converted the funds to a cryptocurrency token they created, claiming it was to evade taxation by the authorities. The value of the investments rapidly plunged by over 95% within days and the accounts of “investors” became inaccessible.He was among the countless people who ended up with worthless digital tokens of one of the longest running scams known as TriumphFx, which is on Bank Negara’s Financial Consumer Alert list.The scheme, which is said to be masterminded by a Malaysian with the help of foreign accomplices, was recently busted by the Commercial Crime Investigation Department with the arrest of several suspects. Financial forensics expert Raymon Ram said Lim’s nightmare was a case of “rug pull”, which is akin to yanking the rug from under an investor’s feet, catching him by surprise.“Scammers typically launch a new token or a non-fungible token and promote it heavily, promising huge returns for early investors. While investors buy the token and drive up the price, the scammers, who often hold a large share of the token supply for themselves under multiple proxy accounts, quietly prepare their exit. When the cryptocurrency price rises high enough, these scammers dispose their tokens and abruptly vanish, leaving investors with worthless tokens. “This is called a ‘pump and dump’ style rug pull,” Ram said when contacted, adding that there is also a rise in such schemes being masterminded by Malaysians. He cited the case of the Gigamax scam busted by the CCID last year which styled itself as a crypto investment platform before its operators rug-pulled and left its victims RM7mil poorer.“Scammers exploit the hype. Many people jumped at the chance to get in early on the hype about ‘the next big coin’.”These scammers, he said, would use cryptocurrency and e-wallets for transactions instead of conventional bank transfers due to the lack of oversight in the crypto space.“This is why rug pull-style schemes are flourishing worldwide,” he said. In January, CCID director Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said that scammers had made Malaysians poorer by at least a quarter billion ringgit within 33 days into 2025.
Malaysia Latest News, Malaysia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Norwegian drama ‘Dreams’ wins Berlin’s top prize, Rose Byrne takes best performance awardBERLIN, Feb 23 — Norwegian drama “Dreams” won the top prize at the Berlin film festival on yesterday, while Australia’s Rose Byrne clinched the Best Performance award, with...
Read more »
A chance to live out their dreamsLIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) - Leaders Liverpool continued their relentless march towards the Premier League title with a 2-0 victory over Newcastle United on Wednesday, moving 13 points clear thanks to goals in each half from Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister.
Read more »
Shattered dreams, empty pockets: Malaysian welder duped into scamming job in CambodiaFROM Datuk Wong You Fong Wanita MCA National Chairperson
Read more »
Hong Kong singer Khalil Fong leaves note for fans to ‘hold fast’ to their dreamsTo some, torn and faded garments may look like old rags. Others, though, see them as having character that stand out from the flatness of cheap fast-fashion and luxury brands.
Read more »
Why some people remember their dreams and others don'tPETALING JAYA: The meeting between the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission and former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, which was scheduled for Wednesday (March 5), has been postponed.
Read more »
Skuad masa depan lebih penting dari Piala Europa- AmorimMANCHESTER: Ruben Amorim percaya membentuk pasukan untuk masa depan adalah lebih penting buat Manchester United sekarang
Read more »