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Car dealer cheats 40 customers

virus

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dont anyhow check... wait sekali found him taking pix with woody or pinkie and is a standing committee chairman for FT integration how?
 

johnny333

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MY_20140115_JAWANTED_G_96822.gif


All this is chicken feed.

One day not too far in the future we may to see some VIPs wanted for embezzling billions from the state. :eek:
 

CoffeeAhSoh

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Volks Auto by now is an empty shell. The boss has already run road with all the money, while the authorities are barely starting their investigations. Good luck getting the money back even if you manage to get the cheat extradited back to Sinkiepoor.




:confused::confused::confused:Suddenly News Black-Out On Volks Auto For the Past 3 Days . :confused::confused::confused:
 

CoffeeAhSoh

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20141218_Volks_TNP.jpg



As more people come forward to claim that they had been cheated by Volks Auto, the total amount of deposits believed to have been paid to the car dealership has reached a staggering $2.5 million.

This was compiled from the invoices of 81 people who had booked cars from the dealership at Three Rifles Building on MacPherson Road.


Angry customers of Volks Auto, which has been shuttered since Saturday, gathered at a McDonald's restaurant in Kallang from 4pm yesterday, and compiled their police reports and invoices.

They told The New Paper that a white Bentley, valued at more than $500,000, had disappeared overnight. It had been the only car left in the showroom.

Mr Deen Safarrudin, 39, the operations manager of Three Rifles Building, confirmed that a man had taken the Bentley away some time on Tuesday night. It is unclear who the man is.

Many of the customers are convinced that Mr Alvin Loo, the director of Volks Auto, is avoiding them after taking the money meant as deposits for their purchases.

The parallel importer, who started trading in April, claimed to import a variety of makes, including Mercedes, Porsche, Honda and Toyota.

DEPOSITS

Most customers said they paid deposits of $20,000 to $30,000, while one claimed, in a WhatsApp chat group of angry customers of Volks Auto, that he paid $100,000.

IT manager K.K. Lo, 53, the de facto organiser of the WhatsApp chat group, said that while he hoped to get back his deposit of $20,000, the odds were against him. His sentiment was shared by the others.

When asked about the purpose of the gathering, Mr Lo said: "We want to see how many people there are in total, get them to make police reports, then compile these reports and get the authorities to do something."

The customers had initially planned to sign a petition, but decided a compilation of police reports would be more effective.

Mr Lo said: "I believe that after this, I won't have to go and look for the authorities. They will come and look for us instead."

A police spokesman said investigations are still on and no further details could be released.

When TNP went to Mr Loo's registered address at 47 Jalan Melor, the corner unit turned out to be a rented house. It is understood the owner of the house is looking for him to pay up.

A neighbour said that two women from a furniture company showed up at the house yesterday, only to find that the furniture, which is believed to have been rented, was no longer there. The furniture is valued at about $10,000.

As the fiasco moves into its fourth day, Mr Loo remains elusive. When TNP called his mobile phone, it went to a foreign voicemail.

Mr Lo said some customers had received a message from Mr Loo that he was in Hong Kong and would be back to "settle everything" today, but they remain doubtful.

"If he has problems, he should at least explain to us. But I think he's long gone."
 

CoffeeAhSoh

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20141218_volksauto_ST.jpg




The story this week of more than 20 people who paid good money to a parallel importer for cars they will probably never get is a familiar one.

Drawn by advertised prices that were about $10,000 lower than prevailing rates, they had each paid $20,000 to $30,000 in down payments to Volks Auto.

The company is now closed, and going by past cases, the car buyers will likely have to write off their losses.

Several similar episodes have been reported by The Straits Times in recent years. Last year, a group of buyers were conned by a used car firm called Galaxy Carz. The now defunct company had apparently sold them cars it did not have rightful possession to. The cars were eventually repossessed, leaving the new buyers poorer and car-less.

The same year, another used car firm, called KS Automobile, cheated customers in the same manner as Galaxy.

In 2010, a firm called SQ Carz collected payments but failed to deliver cars. That same year, a group of buyers discovered that Mirage Motor was not what it seemed when the company simply ceased to exist overnight.

Industry watchers said it is not uncommon for some small-time car firms to come and go, changing names and shareholders in the process to shake off debtors or customers with unfulfilled orders.

But the modus operandi of choice seems to be this: Set up a $2 company (so-called for the low fee to register a company), advertise cars with unrealistically low prices, collect deposits from eager buyers who think they have found a bargain, close shop, set up another $2 company with a new name, and repeat.

Although police reports have been filed, no one in recent memory has been taken to task.

Some victims were told by police to seek civil recourse. It is not known why the law had taken such a stance in those cases, but it could have been because it was hard to prove intent.

Nevertheless, it is understood that police are viewing the latest case involving Volks Auto as criminal. Beyond obvious cheating cases, the motor trade is rife with less overt but equally dubious practices. Cases of protracted delays in delivering a car are common. Cases of buyers being asked to pay more after a price has been agreed on are common. Cases of cars severely damaged in accidents, fires or floods being repaired and resold are also not uncommon.

Ditto instances of cars delivered without advertised features, with warranty agreements that are not honoured and, of course, with serious defects. After all, when just about anyone can set up a motor company without being screened for financial capability or track record, you can expect more than a few black sheep in a field of more than 400 players.

It was for some of these reasons that the Singapore Vehicle Traders Association - a body made up largely of used car traders and parallel importers - teamed up with the Consumers Association of Singapore to set up a CaseTrust accreditation programme in 2009.

Businesses that joined the programme had to first prove, among other things, that they were in good financial health and had transparent and fair trade practices in place. They also had to furnish an insurance bond of $50,000, which would help to settle any customer disputes that might arise. Members' shopfronts display the CaseTrust decal.

Of course, consumers are not always aware of this programme (well-publicised as it may be). Or even if they are, they are often blinded by cheaper prices elsewhere. And they may well be lulled into a false sense of security that this is safe and well-regulated Singapore - not exactly a place associated with shady businesses.

Yet, shady businesses in the motor trade exist, often with shiny shopfronts.

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that cars are such big-ticket items here, and that perpetrators know that they need only fleece a dozen people and they stand to walk away with millions.

If that were true, why is the real estate market not faced with the same scourge?

Yes, there have been cases of real estate agents embezzling money, just as there are car salesmen who pocket deposits paid by buyers. But there have not been cases of property companies set up to sell homes or offices that they had no intention or ability to deliver. Not here, anyway.

Could it be that a property purchase is done through lawyers?

It is worth thinking about. After all, a car here costs as much as a house in most other countries.

Shouldn't consumers invest in checks by professionals who can determine if the vehicle for sale is free from encumbrances, that the seller has the right to sell it, or that the motor company has, in fact, invoices for cars in its premises? Barring this course of action, consumers should simply have their wits about them. That includes not buying from sellers with no established track record, and not buying from so-called $2 companies.

Also, as the old adage goes, if something seems too good to be true, it usually is.
 

eatshitndie

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usually when you mention "rip off" or "con men", tiongs come to mind. it's not surprising that sinkies are equally or more despicable in the rip-off, con and fraud business. :rolleyes:
 

CoffeeAhSoh

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Shittimes reported today that 1 buyer paid in full


Thank you Sir for Update :smile:



:confused::confused::confused: Strange !!! If 80 buyers can be Con of more than S$3.50 M

why They Cannot Pool together their Resources $$$ and Offer a Reward of say S$1.00 M


to Track down Alvin Loo
:confused::confused::confused:
 

rotiprata

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this kind of stories will always make a beri good script for babarachong n her noose team :biggrin:

sinkies love to laugh at suckers who get scam online....
but they themselves end up being the mother of all suckers... offline also can get scammed :biggrin: :biggrin:
 

CoffeeAhSoh

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Shittimes reported today that 1 buyer paid in full



Volks Auto case: 2 cars now with another dealer



It says vehicles on consignment to Volks, but it failed to pay service fees


PUBLISHED ON DEC 22, 2014 2:05 AM




TWO cars that were in the showroom of a dealer which allegedly cheated car buyers of more than $3 million have surfaced at another dealership in Sin Ming Road.

Mr Lawrence Tan, director of Zion Auto Gallery, said his firm had taken back the two cars - a Bentley and a Mercedes-Benz - from Volks Auto shortly before it made the headlines last week.

As of yesterday, there were 107 people claiming to have paid a total of $3.5 million to Volks. None has received his car from the shuttered dealer.

Mr Tan told The Straits Times the two cars were on consignment to Volks - a common practice in the industry, he added.

This means Volks had paid a deposit for them, and was supposed to pay monthly service fees. The cars should be paid for in full if and when they are sold, but there is also the option of returning unsold cars to get the deposit back.

Mr Tan said Volks had failed to pay its monthly service fees, therefore the cars were taken back right before news broke that Volks' doors had been shuttered.

He said he was unable to provide details on how much the deposits and service fees were, as the agreement was between his sister company and Volks.

Mr Tan said he had called many times to ask for the service fees and to make an inspection at Volks' showroom to check if the cars were still there, but either his calls went unanswered or he was told the boss, Mr Alvin Loo, was not in.

He added that the consignment was done through a middleman, and he does not know Mr Loo. Title documents for the cars do not belong to Volks but to Zion Auto Gallery's sister company, which he declined to name.

While each of Volks' victims had paid an average of $20,000 to $30,000 in deposit - with at least one buyer paying for a car in full - Mr Tan said it was not common to pay that much upfront in the parallel import industry.

He said he collects only $15,000 in total when he gets a car order - $5,000 for the car and $10,000 for the certificate of entitlement bidding.

A check on the chassis number of the Mercedes C200 at Zion Auto Gallery showed that it was the same car promised to businessman Richard Lee, 61, in a sales agreement issued by Volks.

But Volks never went about paying Zion Auto Gallery in full for the consigned car, despite having collected $37,000 from Mr Lee on Oct 25 and promising to deliver it at the end of last month.

Mr Lee made a police report regarding this latest development yesterday morning and said he had earlier sent e-mail messages to MPs to ask for help.
 

CoffeeAhSoh

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Police classify Volks Auto case as cheating, seek firm’s owner



By Kenneth Cheng, TODAY

POSTED: 24 Dec 2014 07:12

URL: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/police-classify-volks/1546964.html


TODAY reports: Police are working to track down Volks Auto owner Alvin Loo, who is said to have left the country early this month, while more than 100

customers are scrambling to reclaim down payments totalling more than S$3 million.

SINGAPORE: The police have classified the case involving Volks Auto - which has left more than 100 customers scrambling to reclaim down payments

totalling more than S$3 million after it shuttered - as a case of cheating and are working to track down its owner Alvin Loo, who is said to have left the

country early this month.

Mr K K Lo, an affected customer, said he was informed of this when he and more than 60 others gathered at the Bedok Police Divisional Headquarters on

Tuesday (Dec 23) for a briefing on the case.

Speaking to reporters after the briefing, Mr Lo, who spoke on behalf of some of the affected customers, said the meeting, which lasted about an hour,

was “friendly” and most of the victims present were “pretty calm”.

The 53-year-old IT manager added that the briefing was followed by a question-and-answer session in which the customers asked the police about the

number of people involved in investigations, the whereabouts of Mr Loo and where their money was.

When contacted by TODAY, the police said: “The police confirm that the case has been classified as cheating. However, it is inappropriate to comment

further as police investigations are ongoing.”

Mr Lo said he knows of 108 victims so far, who made down payments amounting to about S$3.6 million.

Most of the affected customers who attended the briefing felt more reassured afterwards, he said. “They are quite satisfied with the police report up to

this stage.”

Moving forward, Mr Lo said at least 60 affected customers are looking into the possibility of buying cars from other dealers as a group. They will seek the

guidance of vehicle associations such as the Automobile Importer and Exporter Association (Singapore) before proceeding, he said, noting that a group

purchase would allow them to buy their vehicles at a discount.

“Hopefully, it will help minimise ... a little of the lost amount for the affected victims,” he added.
 

CoffeeAhSoh

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Volks Auto boss, accused of cheating car buyers of deposits, left Singapore in early December



Published on Dec 23, 2014 9:40 PM
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- See more at: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/si...-early-december-20141223#sthash.jvFyxygE.dpuf


Volks Auto boss left Singapore in early December

By Kok Xing Hui


SINGAPORE - The owner of a car parallel importer which allegedly took deposits from customers but never produced their vehicles is not in the country.

Police confirmed that Volks Auto owner Alvin Loo, 36, left Singapore in early December, well before customers discovered his business was closed on Dec 13 and made the first police report.

On Tuesday, the police met about 60 alleged victims to update them on investigations and field questions, said Mr K.K. Lo, an IT system integrator who leads a chat group of Volks' customers.

Altogether, the 108 claim to have paid about $3.6 million to the company in deposits for cars that were never delivered. Mr Lo estimates the number is about 90 per cent of Volks Auto's customers, as some have gone to the police without making contact with the group.
 
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