The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) cautioned the public on the sharp increase of investment scams promoted on messaging application Telegram.
It said that since January 2022, the SC has received a total of 47 complaints and enquiries on illegal investment schemes promoted through Telegram.
“These fraudulent schemes offer non-existent investment opportunities, promising very attractive and risk-free returns within a short span of time,” it said in a statement yesterday.
“They commonly offer unrealistic returns of as high as 1,000% within 24 hours or even within a few hours,” it added.
“As such, the SC would like to remind investors to always exercise caution when evaluating investment opportunities, especially those promising unrealistically high returns with little or no risk. Investors should also never deposit money into someone’s personal bank account if instructed,” the regulator said further.
According to the SC, the perpetrators use various names to carry out the investment scams.
They may also impersonate or clone licensed capital market intermediaries by using the names, logos, credentials, websites and other details of the legitimate entities to promote the illegal schemes.
A public group on Telegram is usually created by these scammers to promote these investment packages that are usually accompanied by fake testimonies and sometimes advertised as being Shariah-compliant.
Subsequently, interested investors…
