ARE WE TOO BLINDED BY DOLLAR SIGNS TO SEE THROUGH SCAMS?

Any 31-year-old who makes millions, has the titles 'Dato Seri' and 'Dr' precede his name arouses more than my admiration. It stirs my curiosity big time.

I have worked hard my whole life, lived frugally and now at the ripe old age of 65 have accumulated savings sufficient only to continue living frugally for the rest of my retirement years. After a lifetime of sweat and toil, and years doing community service, I still don't have a title to my name or millions in my bank account.

So, of course, I want to know how this Dato Seri Dr Peter Ong Kean Suan did it. How did he amass so much financial wealth at so young an age that he can play philanthropist to the hilt and not feel the pinch? I am talking about donations amounting to RM690,000. Certainly not an amount to scoff at.

This advertorial in The Star, 19 Nov 2013, got me asking 'Who is this Peter Ong Kean Swan?'  According to the advertorial, he arrived in style at his 31st birthday celebration - in the 'surewin4u self-purchased private helicopter...escorted by police cars and 40 bodyguards'. Wow! But why the need for that many bodyguards? Is he afraid for his life? Why?

Don't you want to learn his secret of generating wealth? Well, I certainly do. I want to learn from this making-money sifu.

Thus began my Google search to find out more about this bigger than life young man who is CEO of Surewin4u. With such a name for a company, how can anyone who invest in it not win? That's probably how this Dato gets folks to place their trust and confidence in him - by convincing them they will make many times more the amount they have invested in Surewin4u.

From Surewin4u website. Impressive enough to win over some folks eager to make money.

Basically, this is how the system works. The company uses the money you have invested (entry point fixed at RM25,000) to gamble on your behalf at the casino. They claim to have devised a system that is guaranteed to beat the odds at the gambling table 100% of the time, and you get a monthly dividend of 8%. They are so confident about their system they even have a refund policy to assure investors they have nothing to lose. This is the carrot that they dangle before potential investors. Those who can see only dollar signs in the carrot and not the beta carotene in it will want to go for it. There's nothing to lose with the guaranteed refund, right?

Intrigued by this 'sure-win-for-you' system, I decided to investigate further. Guess what turned up? This picture below taken from Astro Awani allegedly shows a man who resembles Ong Kean Suan (sans titles) in handcuffs being escorted by the police to the magistrate's court on a charge of impersonating royalty to get room discount at a hotel! The picture is dated 20 March 2013. As far as I know, the company is still operating and still attracting investors, so it could mean the charge has been dropped, or the man has been acquitted.

This looks like a direct translation from Malay in the original post dated 20 March, 2013. Eight months later, this photo below taken from The Star shows Ong celebrating his birthday in grand style. Is this the same Ong Kean Suan of Surewin4u? 

(Photo: The Star, 13 Nov 2013)

So the question you may want to ask me - why am I so interested in this Peter Ong and his mission to help make millionaires out of us ordinary folks? Well, I have good friends who have invested their retirement savings and had their fingers burnt investing in various get-rich schemes. That's why. It pays to be extra careful when parting with your money. A young man can still get a job and work hard to rebuild his lost fortunes. But not for a retiree. He sees his dream of retiring to a comfortable life going up in smoke.

Retirees are a favorite target of agents dealing in pyramid or multilevel get-rich schemes. They have a tidy sum in their retirement funds, and many are looking at ways to make that sum grow.

We have all read about people who have lost their life savings in their desire to make money quickly and easily. Yet they don't seem to have learned their lessons. As is often the case, greed or desperation makes good people throw caution to the wind, and they end up with nothing to show for all the years of hard work and saving. The worst off are those who find themselves in debt because they borrowed money to invest in these schemes. Now life is hell for them as they are hounded daily by Ah Longs or loan sharks.

If you don't have excess money to play around with, if you know next to nothing about investing, if you have no clue how the stock market works, the safest thing to do is to do nothing, and let your money earn interest in the bank or EPF. You won't get much, but your exposure to risks is low. Alternatively, find a financial consultant you can trust and who truly has your interest at heart to manage your money. He must have an excellent track record of good returns on investments.

So, is this one a scam or a legitimate money-making venture? It would interesting to find out from folks who have invested in the company and have reaped profits. Success stories are always inspiring.

It is easy to tell whether a scheme is a scam or not. Remember, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is, especially if it promises easy money and quick returns. So if your nose tells you there is something fishy about any invitation to make quick easy money, stay away from it. Your retirement savings is meant to see you through your golden years. Make sure you protect it.