Investing is arguably one of the best ways to grow money -- provided you do it yourself if you know what you are doing or getting someone else who knows what he or she is doing.

Some individuals like Yukiko, however, aren't as fortunate.

More than S$1 million

According to Yukiko, more than S$1 million from numerous investors are in the hands of an investment adviser, who goes by Alvin Ker Jiajun.

In an interview with Lianhe Zaobao, Yukiko shared that around 147 investors are still waiting for their money to be returned.

"My friend is also one of the investors. He added me to a group chat on WhatsApp last Saturday. There were only about 10 people. By yesterday, there were 147 people in this group, and we believe there are more people."

Modus operandi

Alvin will seek for investors on Facebook, enticing potential customers by claiming that the invested capital will be guaranteed and can double up in four months' time.

The posts mentioned that these investments are "safe and trustable" and have limited slots per month, with more than 400 investors in the past year.

Here's one example:

These posts are always accompanied by images of fanned out S$1,000 dollar bills.

Invested S$2,000

Having succumbed to the lucrative spiel on the Facebook posts, Yukiko decided to invest S$2,000 in October 2017 but not without asking some important questions.

She wanted to know if she could really get double the invested amount, to which Ker replied:

"Walao if can't get back x2 then all my fb post all fake de liao lor. Hahha"

Ker also claimed that five investors have invested S$350,000 for the month of November 2017.

From here on, however, he gave her several different excuses for delaying repayment.

Jan. 31: Hospitalised for kidney stones

Four months later on Jan. 31, Yukiko decided to ask Ker about her investment.

Unfortunately, Ker claimed that he was hospitalised for kidney stones and could only retrieve and bank in the cheques once he is discharged the following day.

Feb. 3: Bank transfer limits

Yukiko decided to check on Ker again on Feb. 3, but received the following generic message instead:

Yukiko, surprisingly, was understanding and told Ker that it's "no problem".

She decided to contact Ker again on Feb. 6 and 7, but her messages were ignored.

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Feb. 10: Expensive data roaming fees in Korea

By Feb. 10, she requested Ker for a reply again.

Ker finally followed up, but only with more excuses.

According to Ker, he was in Korea and couldn't transfer the money due to expensive data roaming charges.

She then asked if she is able to receive the money by Feb. 14 but was subsequently ignored.

She pestered Ker again on Feb. 12 and 22, but to no avail.

Eventually, Ker replied her, saying that he will be collecting the cheques and has to bank it into his account before transferring the money to her.

By the way, he mentioned earlier on Jan. 31 that he was going to collect the cheques on Feb. 1.

Feb. 22: Hospitalised for kidney stones again

After Ker avoided her questions on Feb. 22, Yukiko told him that she will be reporting the case to the police if he does not reply her in the next three days.

To which, Ker replied that he was not trying to avoid her and was in fact, going through another kidney stone operation (which is, by the way, his second hospitalisation in a month).

Where is he now?

Replying to a comment on her Facebook post, Yukiko mentioned that between 20 to 40 investors went to his house on Feb. 28 trying to look for him.

However, Ker is allegedly in Vietnam.

Ker's update

Ker shared a Facebook post on March 1, clarifying that he was not on the run and will be coming back on March 5.

Ker also stressed that his family will make a police report if anyone goes to his house.

"This is my personal issue so pls do not harass my family anymore."

Investments with licensed financial advisers

According to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the marketing of any collective investment scheme including unit trusts is considered a financial advisory service under the Financial Advisers Act.

While we don't know what organisation Ker comes from and what his occupation is, we do know that only licensed financial advisers are allowed to conduct financial advisory services.

If you have purchased an investment product from an unlicensed financial adviser, the matter should be reported to MAS immediately.

The matter will be investigated by the Commercial Affairs Department if there is any breach of the law.

Top image via Yukiko's Facebook page and HardwareZone

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