Same modus operandi every time, just different instruments used, usually real-estate, wine, wood, timbre, forex, gold, precious metals or can be anything.
No free lunch in this world, if it is too good to be true, it probably is!
It started out as a sweet deal involving the buying and selling of properties in Singapore's choicest districts, promising around 30 per cent returns.
The investors said the alleged mastermind behind the elaborate scheme, Ms Leong Lai Yee, owes investors more than $60 million in capital alone.
No free lunch in this world, if it is too good to be true, it probably is!
It started out as a sweet deal involving the buying and selling of properties in Singapore's choicest districts, promising around 30 per cent returns.
Now, around 60 investors have come forward to claim they have been duped in what could be a multi-million-dollar ponzi scam.
The investors said the alleged mastermind behind the elaborate scheme, Ms Leong Lai Yee, owes investors more than $60 million in capital alone.
The scheme may have started unravelling only last year, but it has been going on some 15 years.
Through the period, Ms Leong allegedly hooked more than 100 investors with her promise of a virtually no-risk programme.
On the "advice" of a banker, she would buy distressed properties in Orchard, Tanglin and Newton, which are on the verge of being repossessed by banks, and sell them to buyers in China for a profit.
Investors who pumped in money to fund the purchase of these distressed properties were promised returns ranging from 10 per cent to 48 per cent over a period of four to eight months, they said.
They were also told that the eventual buyers would place a 40 per cent downpayment on the property, which would be forfeited if these buyers backed out. This would be enough to pay the profits promised to investors.
Those who referred friends were also given a cut, which could be anywhere from 1 per cent to as much as half of the new funds.
One investor, who gave her name only as Madam J. Tan, said Ms Leong claimed to be marketing high-end condominiums in Singapore's Districts 9, 10 and 11, although there were never any documents to prove this.
"We just trusted her because of the testimonies of those who knew her for a long time," said the 50-year-old, who put in $1 million and introduced several friends to the programme.
Ms Leong, who was known to friends as Adeline, built up trust and goodwill over the years, even inviting investors over for Chinese New Year parties at her well-decorated semi-detached house in Tanah Merah.
"She is someone who sits down together with you, laughs, goes for dinner, holidays in Thailand and Hong Kong together with you. Will you suspect anything?" said a 58-year-old businessman who gave his name only as Mr S. Goh.
"There were never any problems. There were even people who pulled out early and got their capital and pro-rated returns back," he said, explaining why no alarm bells went off for so many years.
It appeared to be only in the past few years that things started going wrong and Ms Leong tried to raise more funds by offering higher returns of 35 per cent for a six-month contract.
This bears the hallmark of a ponzi scheme, in which fresh funds from new investors are used to pay those who joined earlier.
Last September, several investors received a text message from Ms Leong saying she would pay them only in December, but with additional interest.
A week later, she postponed payment to March 9. She told investors then she was trying to negotiate a $70 million deal that would allow her to repay everyone.
When March 9 came, payments were pushed to May 18.
Four days before the deadline, investors were asked for their addresses so they could be sent invoices. But instead of invoices, some of them later received a letter from Ms Leong in which she said she would kill herself.
She and her husband have been uncontactable since, investors said. Attempts by The Sunday Times to call her were unsuccessful.
Ms Chan Shwe Ching, an investor, began legal proceedings against Ms Leong last month. Her lawyer Michael Chia said the courts have allowed an injunction to freeze Ms Leong's assets within Singapore.
Around 30 people have also hired a lawyer to launch a civil suit against Ms Leong, said an investor who gave his name as Mr Ong.
Mr Goh said he had dinner with Ms Leong just last month. Now, he and the other investors are hoping her family and the public will help to locate her.