Life’s changing for investors in money-making scheme

BUKIT MERTAJAM: A 22-year-old bachelor forked out over RM40,000 (US$10,000) – a huge part of his savings – when he was told he could make a fat profit via the Change Your Life (CYL) forex scheme.

Now, he doesn’t have the money in his hands. And he has only two options in getting anything back – a refund at a lower exchange rate or to convert his credit into “life points” and just wait.

The businessman, who wished to remain anonymous, said he was unsure which of the two options to accept.

“I invested my savings at the end of last year after a friend recommended the scheme to me, but the company recently announced a choice for investors to either seek a refund or convert the investment credit into points,” he said when met outside the CYL office at the Icon City here yesterday.

The man, who went over to the office to find out more about the options given by CYL, said he was asked to sign a form allowing CYL to convert his investment amount into points, if he agreed to convert his credit.

The form carried a disclaimer that if there is any dispute after the transfer, the company will not bear any legal responsibility.

“I was also told by one of the staff members that for the life points, if I converted my credit amount into points, it will grow and when it reaches a certain stage, I can partially convert it to cash and make a withdrawal.

“If I opt for the refund now, the amount will only be paid in two transactions, half this month and the remainder in June.

“But I will lose a large sum because the exchange rate was 4.4 when I invested. The rate they are offering is only 3.8,” he said.

It was reported that just days after the exposé on collapsed money games firm JJPTR, three schemes – CYL, Richway Global Venture and BTC I-system – are also said to be in financial trouble after members failed to receive their “profits” on time.

A check at the CYL office yesterday showed streams of investors taking the elevator up to the first floor office to seek advice.

A stack of photocopied forms in Chinese were kept on a table for investors to fill up to authorise the company to convert their investment credits into life points.

An investor, in his 40s, said most of them were at the office because they did not understand clearly the options being offered.

“We are getting mixed answers. I opted to quit because it looks very unstable now. From my past experience about 10 years ago in a similar scheme, it’s best to quit before I lose my money,” he said.

Employees at the CYL office declined to comment.