Some snippets:
Virgin Gold Mining Corporation (VGMC) is a big international gold-themed pyramid fraud. If you are unfamiliar with the term, many (including me) often call these things Ponzis, though in truth Ponzis are slightly different in structure, and tend to be more durable.
The whisper number around the VGMC fraud is $2Bn, and, though there could easily be a hefty dose of hype in there, it is easy to construct a plausible tally of thousands of bilked investors, with losses ranging from tens of thousands into the millions.
Virgin Gold is undertaking an exercise of issuing fresh Convertible Preferred Stocks (CPS) and invites willing investors worldwide to take up this offer.
The offer price starts at $0.80/share on 1 January, 2010.
By the end of 2012 or mid 2013, VGMC has a very impressive geographical footprint, on Facebook pages, blogs, and bulletin boards: Egypt, Dubai, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, and both Hong Kong and mainland China. Judging by this ASIC warning, it’s put in an appearance in Australia too, and there are even training sessions for promoters, run by some idiot from southern Africa, at the Ritz in London.
With (purportedly and plausibly) thousands of investors across the Middle East and Asia, and a very high, very lively social media profile, it’s pretty clear that cooling the marks out is going to take a lot more planning and organisation than usual.
By the end of 2012 or mid 2013, VGMC has a very impressive geographical footprint, on Facebook pages, blogs, and bulletin boards: Egypt, Dubai, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, and both Hong Kong and mainland China. Judging by this ASIC warning, it’s put in an appearance in Australia too, and there are even training sessions for promoters, run by some idiot from southern Africa, at the Ritz in London.
With (purportedly and plausibly) thousands of investors across the Middle East and Asia, and a very high, very lively social media profile, it’s pretty clear that cooling the marks out is going to take a lot more planning and organisation than usual.
Malaysia is featured (unfortunately) several times in the above articles, and not only as investors. The authorities might want to have a look at the details.
Some good news, both the Securities Commission and the Monetary Authority Singapore put VGMC on their alert list (SC alert, MAS alert), the SC already in 2010 (MAS doesn't put a timeline). In other words, investors have been warned, the list of unauthorised websites / investment products / companies / individuals is the most visited page on SC's website.
Why do so many investors fall for these schemes in Malaysia and Singapore? I don't know, but may be making "Hustle" (one of my favourite series) part of the school curriculum will help.
The introduction in the first article above is straight from the lessons to be learned from Hustle (and many other devious schemes as well):
The mark is permitted to win some money and then persuaded to invest more. There is an “accident” or “mistake,” and the mark loses his total investment. The operators then depart in a ceremony that is called the blow off or sting. They leave the mark but take his money. The mark is expected to go on his way, a little wiser and a lot poorer.
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