The consulate general office of Malaysia in Nanning, China has yet to be informed of Malaysians arrested by the public security in Nanning in a raid over an investment scam.

In a phone interview by Sin Chew Daily, Consul-General of Malaysia in Nanning Bong Yik Jui said he would follow up with the authorities to find out if Malaysians are involved in Nanning investment scam.

He does not rule out the possibilities as many Malaysians are fond of investing in Nanning. Majority of them are investing on voluntary basis instead of being deceived.

Bong revealed that prior to Chinese New Year, a young woman from Kuala Lumpur lodged a complaint with the consul general office that her mother, persuaded by friends who are real estate agents, visited a furniture fair in Guangzhou and was later brought to Nanning in Guangxi. The woman’s mother was stopped from contacting her family.

On the pretext of expensive charges incurred by telecommunication companies in Malaysia, the Malaysian woman was persuaded to use phone card sold in China.

Her phone was then confiscated or various reasons such as low battery to stop her from contacting family in Malaysia.

The woman tried to recover her hand phone to contact the family but did not know her where about. Finally she sent her location through an app in the phone. The location was actually at Hua Tian Sheng (the base of notorious pyramid scheme in Nanning).

Bong said the woman’s children lodged a police report in Kuala Lumpur after losing contact with her in China. The family approached consul-general office in Nanning five days later to rescue the mother.

“We have sought help from public security of Nanning. But Hua Tian Sheng Fu comprises seven buildings and each building is nine-storey. We were unable to trace the woman within short span of time.

The woman finally contacted the family seven days later. When the consul-general’s office was notified, the woman was already in Guangzhou Airport to fly home.

Bong reminded the public not to believe in friends to fall prey to Nanning scams. He said the woman was visiting China with friends and ended up “imprisoned” by those involved in the scam to stop her to have contacts with others. 

He urges the public to contact the embassy of consul-general’s office immediately after losing contact with someone instead of lodging police report in Malaysia. This would defer time for man search to be carried out.

Last year, Bong told Sin Chew Daily that the illegal pyramid scheme of “pure capital operations” was active in Nanning. More than 10,000 of Malaysians estimated to favour such kind of virtual investments. 

More than 10 Malaysians were detained by the public security in Nanning for involving in such activities last March. Due to insufficient evidence, they were released several days later.

On the other hand, he said many people in Sarawak also talked about investment scam in Nanning was he was celebrating Chinese New Year back home. Many are believed to be involved in the money game. ends