BNM to probe JJPTR if report lodged

PETALING JAYA: Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) will step in to investigate the money game firm JJPTR once a police report is received.

Assistant governor Abu Hassan Alshari Yahaya said the firm could be investigated under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLA) or the Banking and Financial Institutions Act (Bafia).

“If the victims feel that they have been cheated by the company, the police can take it up as a criminal case. Apart from BNM, the police can freeze the bank accounts of those involved in fraud and money-laundering,” he told Sin Chew Daily.

Abu Hassan said that only banks, which have a licence from BNM, could engage in foreign exchange (forex) investment, and that unlicensed operations were illegal.

Bank Negara also advised the public to watch out for tell-tale features of scams, such as some forex trading that promises interest rates, returns or profits much higher than those offered by licensed financial institutions for deposits.

It said that in the beginning, the operators were able to use the money received from subsequent depositors to pay high returns or repay the principal amount to earlier depositors.

However, the operators could not invest the deposits in equally or more lucrative ventures or investments, and would not be able to sustain the high returns promised to depositors.

“These schemes will fail eventually when there are no more new deposits. The get-rich-quick schemes will then collapse and the depositors or investors will lose their investments,” said the central bank.

It added that the operators approach the public either by mail, telephone, Internet or in person with the intention to take money from unsuspecting victims for goods or services that they have no intention to provide.

Other signs of such forex trading include asking investors to sign a business contract with a principal company overseas.

In most cases, Bank Negara said the operators would inform the investors that they would send these contracts to the principal company overseas for signing.

“However, such contracts will be left unsigned.

“In the event the investors are unhappy with future dealings and transactions, no action can be taken against the company as there is no binding contract between them,” it added.

Bukit Aman Commercial Crimes Investigations Department director Comm Datuk Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said it is common sense to be suspicious when someone offers investment packages with such high returns in a short period of time.

He added that police have yet to receive reports from the investors or victims of JJPTR.