Millionaire at 19 but bankrupt now

Compiled by FATIMAH ZAINAL, YIMIE YONG and R. ARAVINTHAN 

A YOUTH, who used to be a millionaire at 19 as a middleman in an online mobile phone business, is now bankrupt and even owes loan sharks money after his business failed, reported Harian Metro.

Known only as Azmir, the now 21-year-old claimed he fell into debt after failing to deliver 8,000 units of pre-booked phones to his customers after he was duped by the founder of the business.

Azmir, who used to earn an annual income of RM5.5mil by pre-booking mobile phones for customers, said he managed to sell 800 units in a year and received mon­thly sales bonus from the founder.

“After a few months, my customers’ orders went up to 8,000 units, but the phones were not delivered by the founder,” adding that the founder later disappeared.

Azmir said the transactions reached RM1mil.

When the buyers started asking about their phones, Azmir had to sell three luxury cars and used his life savings of RM500,000 to refund as many customers as he could.

He added that there were also others who were conned when the mobile phones they pre-ordered for their customers were not delivered by the founder.

> The hiker who went missing for six days while scaling up Mount Bingai in Bau, Sarawak, said he met a “beautiful woman” on the mountain, reported Utusan Malaysia.

Stanley Kho, 22, who was found only wearing shorts with his shirt and mobile phone missing, said the woman handed him a flower and took him to an unknown location.

“I followed her, and it was as if I was in a different place,” he added.

Kho said that in the six days that he was missing, he did hear people calling out for him, but could not respond as it felt as if his mouth was “locked”.

The victim was found after alert villagers who were also looking for him heard his call for help.

> After 16 years, actress Fasha Sandha wants to give priority to quality roles, reported Berita Harian.

The single mother of Putra Rayfal, five, and Putri Raysha Jemyma, three, who continued to be a top choice among directors, maintained a strong discipline in her working life.

“I work that way and have nothing to prove. I’m comfortable in helping make the shoot go smoothly,” said the actress of hit film Anak Mami Kembali.

Fasha, who has been linked to actor Aidil Aziz, said they remain close friends and that she is comfortable with their status.

The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.