New gold player emerges with 'buyback offer'

[Temperament]

I remembered one comment from the victim, they knew the risk, but it is very profitable as long as you are not the last person. It mean he knew how the scam works

A little like buying at the top of the market and hoping there are more greater fools out there. Knowledgeable yes, but foolish in believing one can escape unscathed before the house of cards collapses!

This reminds me of a child playing with fire without knowledge of how dangerous fire can be if out of control. Is there an excuse for adult who plays with fire? He should expect or prepare for boom or bust result. The only problem is all his gains from playing with "Fire Boom" may be "Kaboom" when only caught once with playing with "Fire Bust"
So i think it is just like short to very short term trading of all derivatives.
If i have to speculate, i think i will put my money with Mr. Derivative rather than LST.
And there are really no excuse for ordinary people who indulge in either activity.

[pianist]

in my opinion LST is only 33yr old. seems to own tens of millions of ppties in m'sia n drives a bentley. and he advertises regularly saying that he is a god send investor guide. to me, its rubbish. its hoax.if trading gold is so profitable, the forbes list of pple would have done it. ts only those poor thing pple who use their life savings to invest with him n inthe end now he is uncontactable. if its too good to be true, it is.
same as a lady called wendy kwek and david yuen from broke to own 50ppties. all scam in onecwayvor another.

i think he is promoting himself as the son of god is it?
btw why do u think wendykwek's business model is a possible scam?
i feel with existence of investment model like her or david's, which is i think is speculative and opportunistic, there is no chance the man on the street can afford a house. to me, they are the source of higher and even higher property price..the authorities should look into the harmful effect of such businesses to our society.

well, if wendy n david are so good and so rich already, y do they need to advertise and conduct talks. y we dun see wee cy, ong bs, peter lim etc doing so?
do the maths. david claims to own >100ppties n passive 300kpm, wih that wealth, shdn't he be on forbes...?

hmm..wendy owns over 50properties, not all in full but could be in part..i read that they did a lot of collaborated deals - i.e. investment with many other investors on a collective basis.
just wonder, if someone can own a private property in part (eg5% through such deal), is he still allowed to buy a hdb flat?

[paullow]

in my opinion LST is only 33yr old. seems to own tens of millions of ppties in m'sia n drives a bentley. and he advertises regularly saying that he is a god send investor guide. to me, its rubbish. its hoax.if trading gold is so profitable, the forbes list of pple would have done it. ts only those poor thing pple who use their life savings to invest with him n inthe end now he is uncontactable. if its too good to be true, it is.
same as a lady called wendy kwek and david yuen from broke to own 50ppties. all scam in onecwayvor another.

i think he is promoting himself as the son of god is it?
btw why do u think wendykwek's business model is a possible scam?
i feel with existence of investment model like her or david's, which is i think is speculative and opportunistic, there is no chance the man on the street can afford a house. to me, they are the source of higher and even higher property price..the authorities should look into the harmful effect of such businesses to our society.

well, if wendy n david are so good and so rich already, y do they need to advertise and conduct talks. y we dun see wee cy, ong bs, peter lim etc doing so?
do the maths. david claims to own >100ppties n passive 300kpm, wih that wealth, shdn't he be on forbes...?

hmm..wendy owns over 50properties, not all in full but could be in part..i read that they did a lot of collaborated deals - i.e. investment with many other investors on a collective basis.
just wonder, if someone can own a private property in part (eg5% through such deal), is he still allowed to buy a hdb flat?

not sure abt hdb rules but if one can claim to own 50 ppties even if each stake is a small fraction of the price of a ppty,

then could i say that by buying 1 lot of each reit in singapore, wow....I can become a ppty magnate overnight as i own a so many prime ppties in s'pore(albeit a tiny tiny stake of a single ppty)

i think then this is misleading, dun u agree?

[sgd]

lol this even made it to zh for all it's worth

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-25...-singapore

[Musicwhiz]

More trouble.

The Gold Guarantee business practices under police probe
02 February 2013 2103 hrs (SST)
URL : http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/s...48/1/.html

SINGAPORE: Police are investigating The Gold Guarantee, a local-based gold trading company.

This comes three months after the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) probed another gold trading firm, Genneva Private Limited.

The CAD says the probe is focused on The Gold Guarantee's business practices and whether it committed criminal offences in the conduct of its affairs.

Authorities have also also seized the company's assets.

The Gold Guarantee specialises in the buying and selling of physical gold bullion bars.

- CNA/ir

[d.o.g.]

Police are investigating The Gold Guarantee, a local-based gold trading company.

They are at least 2 years too late. The losses suffered by the victims should be in the millions by now, if not tens of millions. Sadly it was easily preventable - the moment these things were written up in the papers years ago, MAS/CAD should have swung into action.

I wonder how many such Ponzi schemes need to be uncovered before the government decides to be pro-active and stamp them out the moment they are born. Personally, I am not holding my breath.

[paullow]

lst is 33y said to driveva bentley n own tens of millions of pptiesvin m'sia. whyvdoes he still need to help pple get rich? why doesn't he buy all the gold himself? thats my key question ibwould ask if i am even having remote thoughts abt parting my $ with him.
as for ppty 'gurus' like wk n jy tc, my comments are above.

[pianist]

i wonder how does hong kong authority handle such situation over their side

[Musicwhiz]

What do you do with the gold? Stare at it, fondle it if you like; but it does NOT generate cash flows. I think Buffett made this point some time back when gold was being touted as the "next big thing"!

The Straits Times
www.straitstimes.com
Published on Feb 06, 2013
Gold investors find no guarantee in their assets

By Magdalen Ng

INVESTORS who took physical possession of gold they bought at The Gold Guarantee - now the subject of a police probe - are in a fix.

Many face difficulties in offloading the precious metal as pawnshops such as Maxi-Cash and ValueMax are refusing to buy any gold associated with the embattled gold trading firm.

They fear that the gold bars may be seized by the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) during investigations.

Maxi-Cash's senior brand manager Magdalene Eng said: "The police are investigating and we wouldn't know what the results are, better not to touch it (the gold) for now. It is quite a big risk to take."

The Gold Guarantee stopped making payments to investors about a month ago, and its founder Lee Song Teck has been uncontactable. Under the scheme it offered, investors bought gold at a premium and got monthly payments. Some took possession of the gold, while others left it with the firm.

The Straits Times understands that United Overseas Bank (UOB) has bought gold back from some of the investors, even though the bank is not obliged to do so since the gold was not purchased directly from UOB.

A UOB spokesman said: "If the customer does not have proof of purchase but the seal from UOB remains intact, the bank may decide to buy back the gold bar at a discounted price. The bank will assess each transaction on a case-by-case basis."

The indicative retail gold price at UOB yesterday was $66.65 per gram or $66,610 per kilobar, significantly lower than what most of The Gold Guarantee customers paid.

A retiree who wanted to be known only as Ms C. Lim - as some family members were unaware she had invested in The Gold Guarantee - said she bought a 1kg bar last year for nearly $90,000.

"I have no idea what I should do. If I sell, I will lose a substantial amount of money, but if I don't, what am I going to do with the gold?" she said in Mandarin.

As of yesterday, ValueMax was not accepting The Gold Guarantee gold bars, but operations director Yeah Lee Ching said there will be a new directive to allow for buybacks.

She said: "It will be on a case-by- case basis, and those who want to sell have to show that they have good title to the gold bar."

The CAD has confirmed on its website that it is investigating the gold trading firm, focusing on its business practices and whether any criminal offences have been committed.

On whether the customers are entitled to sell their gold as yet, a spokesman said in a e-mail response: "It is inappropriate to comment as police investigations are ongoing."

A lawyer who declined to be named said that whether customers can sell their gold depends on their contract. For example, if it explicitly states that they can sell the gold back only to The Gold Guarantee, then it is unlikely that they can sell to a third party.

However, he said that customers may want to seek legal advice before selling, because the sale may affect any claim that they might have against the gold trading company, and that the CAD does have the power to seize any gold that has been sold.

"Whether they do so depends on whether the seizure would further their investigation," he said.

songyuan@sph.com.sg

[pianist]

Thursday, Apr 25, 2013


Mr Lee Song Teck, 35

Bachelor and only child of pig farmers. His father, a gambler, died when he was 17.

Took over family's animal pharmaceutical business when he was 20.


Used to be a property agent. Ran a fitness centre, property investment seminar business and gold trading firm, Gold Guarantee, which is being investigated by the Commercial Affairs Department.

Listed as director of The Discovery Group, which offers "long-term holiday products".

Lives in a corner terrace house in Hougang. His mother bought it for $1.2 million in 2004 and it was worth about $4.5 million in 2012, he said in a previous interview.

Drives a $1 million Bentley sports car, which he called his "dream car", and BMW 5 series model.

Invests in real estate and gold: His gold investment portfolio was reportedly worth $30 million in 2012.

First Singapore property investment was a shophouse in the Golden Mile Complex.

Owns property in commercial building in Tianjin, China, an apartment block in Central London and commercial units in Kuala Lumpur.

The Consumers Association of Singapore said he has been uncontactable since January this year. The New Paper also tried to contact him, but could not reach him. His disappearance left clients - some of whom invested more than $1 million in gold - stranded.
- See more at: http://business.asiaone.com/news/directo...1Bn8s.dpuf