SG is financial loss/fraud/scam hub. Huat ah!

[k1976]

#1

At least 70 police reports filed against Singaporean-run crypto trading platform Torque

Torque is run by Singaporean businessman Bernard Ong.
PHOTOS: TORQUESUPERWALLET.ASIA, YOUTUBE

Joyce Lim
Senior Correspondent

MAR 24, 2021

SINGAPORE - At least 70 police reports were lodged against online cryptocurrency trading platform Torque, run by Singaporean businessman Bernard Ong, with investors claiming millions lost in cryptocurrencies.

Three days before the Chinese New Year holidays last month, retail investors were told that one of Torque's employees had apparently violated the company's rules and that his unauthorised trading activities had led to significant losses in their trading accounts.

In a letter to investors, Torque Group Holdings, which is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and owns the cryptocurrency trading platform, told investors that their accounts had been suspended to prevent further losses. Once the investigations were concluded, investors would be able to withdraw their remaining balances and have the option to close their accounts or resume trading on the platform, said Torque's chief executive Bernard Ong.

But Mr Ong subsequently applied to the BVI Courts to wind up the company.

The application was granted last week (Mar 18) and Mr Philip Smith and Mr Jason Kardachi from restructuring and insolvency specialist firm Borrelli Walsh were appointed as joint liquidators.

A preliminary review of Torque's record and investor database by Borrelli Walsh estimated creditor claims at US$325 million (S$436 million) as at March 2 (2021), while crypto assets under the control of the liquidators are valued at about US$9.1 million (S$12 million) as of Mar 14.

Mr Smith told The Straits Times that investigations were still at an early stage and he is unable to confirm yet how many of Torque's more than 14,000 investors from more than 120 countries, reside in Singapore.

Mr Ong, 33, chief executive of Torque, told ST that he has filed a police report in Singapore against the employee who, he alleges, is responsible for the losses. He said that the employee is not based in Singapore and has not been contactable.

Police confirmed reports were lodged by both Mr Ong and investors and said that they are looking into the matter.

Mr Ong said that Torque, which was incorporated in 2019, has about 80 employees based in Vietnam and Singapore, of which 20 are Singaporeans.

"The cost is too high to run a 24-hour operation in Singapore. And the reason why I registered my company in BVI is because it does not have a regulatory framework towards cryptocurrency. I wanted a place that is more friendly towards crypto space," said Mr Ong.

A search on the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority portal showed that Mr Ong is the director and shareholder of 12 companies in Singapore.

Mr Ong said: "Borrelli Walsh has taken over (the company). I am no longer in power of the company. I know that investors are frustrated and angry. As a company, we are doing all we can to help anyone and I am ready to cooperate with any authority."

In an email to ST, Mr Ong's lawyer Sarbrinder Singh of Sanders Law said the purpose of engaging Borrelli Walsh was "to trace and locate the misappropriated funds" by the employee in question, "so that the losses to Torque would be minimised".

Mr Singh added that Mr Ong has been harassed by debt collectors demanding payments for which he is not liable. He is also aware of a potential class action against Mr Ong by a group of investors.

One investor, who has 350 accounts with Torque said he was attracted to Torque's reward scheme which could reward an investor between 0.15 and 0.45 per cent of the amount traded in a day.

The investor who wanted to be known as only Mr Lim, said he opened his first account with Torque in January last year(2020) and invested US$50,000 (S$67,000) in cryptocurrency. In the past one year, he has traded a total of US$350,000 (S$470,000) in cryptocurrency with Torque.

He claimed that at one point he was getting daily rewards of about US$2,000.

The self-employed man, who is in his 30s, said he will wait for the liquidators to conclude their investigations and hoped that he could eventually withdraw his remaining balance of some US$800,000 (S$1.07 million) from his Torque account.

A lot these scams are Tiong or Jiuhu or Ceca masterminds with a lot sinki run legs

 

[LITTLEREDDOT]

Jail for ex-insurance agent who cheated victim of over $543k in fictitious investment scheme​

Shaffiq Alkhatib
Dec 09, 2024


SINGAPORE - A former insurance agent who duped a man into transferring more than $543,000 to him over 35 occasions from March 2018 to March 2019 was sentenced to two years and eight months’ jail on Dec 9.

Andrew Tiew Siew Ing, 44, who had managed to convince the victim to take part in an “investment opportunity” that did not exist, pleaded guilty to two cheating charges and an unrelated assault charge on Nov 25.

Four more cheating charges were considered during his sentencing.

Tiew, whose employment with an insurance firm was terminated in May 2018, has since made more than $16,000 in restitution to the 44-year-old victim.

In earlier proceedings, Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Da Zhuan said the scammer was working as a bank relationship manager when he got to know the victim’s mother, who became his customer.

Tiew later joined an insurance firm, and he told the woman’s son in January 2018 about an “investment scheme” linked to insurance policies.

Tiew claimed that he was working with a team at another insurance firm and that the scheme provided “good returns”.


According to him, the scheme involved creating insurance policies using the names of fake clients.

The DPP had told the court in November: “Further details of this scheme were not shared with the victim.

“However, the accused informed the victim that the investment opportunity would provide the victim with returns of between 10 per cent and 40 per cent on the sums invested.

“The victim knew from the accused’s representations that the investment schemes required creating insurance policies with fake credentials. But he nevertheless agreed to participate in the investment scheme, as it guaranteed high returns for him.”

This “investment opportunity” did not exist, and the unsuspecting victim later transferred more than $543,000 in total to Tiew.

In 2019, Tiew cheated the victim of another $30,400.

This time, he claimed that he needed money to process the sale of his properties in Malaysia, and that the funds raised would purportedly be used to repay the victim’s “investment monies”.

But Tiew did not own any properties in Malaysia, and he instead used the ill-gotten gains to gamble at the Marina Bay Sands casino.

Believing the lies, the victim transferred the $30,400 to Tiew over five occasions between April and June 2019.

The victim alerted the police in May 2020.

In an unrelated case, Tiew was working as a delivery rider when he got into a dispute with a 50-year-old man over a parking space in River Valley Road on April 4, 2024.

Tiew punched the older man, who suffered multiple facial fractures and was treated at Singapore General Hospital.