Assalamualaikum Saudara Azizi,

Buat pertama kali setelah beberapa lama saya mengikuti tip-tip dan nasihat berguna daripada saudara, tiba-tiba terdetik rasa kurang hormat kepada saudara. Ini hanya kerana pendapat saudara tentang swisscash yang terlalu dangkal. Sebagai seorang yang menganggap diri sebagai seorang pakar/profesional dalam memberi pandangan, sepatutnya pandangan dan nasihat tersebut datangnya daripada ilmu pengetahuan dan pengalaman mendalam saudara sendiri.

Dalam kes swisscash ini, tidak wajar jika saudara katakan bahawa daripada nama swisscash adalah bertujuan untuk menarik perhatian pelabur dengan nama switzerland sedangkan kebenarannya swisscash tidak pernah pun mengatakan bahawa mereka dari switzerland dalam website mereka. Swisscash adalah produk pelaburan oleh Swiss Mutual Fund (1948). Base mereka ialah di Republik Dominican dan pejabat operasi mereka juga di New York.

Lagi satu dakwaan saudara bahawa skim ini akan recycle duit adalah tidak tepat dan dakwaan bahawa jenis perniagaan atau pelaburan yang mereka jalankan tidak boleh diketahui oleh umum adalah tidak tepat kerana saudara boleh mendapat maklumat tersebut melalui website mereka.

Saya nasihatkan saudara cuba dulu melabur sedikit contoh usd100 atau jika tidak berminat silalah layari website grup kami untuk mendapat maklumat lanjut.

Untuk makluman saudara, saya baru saja melabur sebulan tetapi income dah lebih 40%. Jangan hilangkan rasa hormat orang lain terhadap saudara hanya kerana pandangan saudara sesekali dangkal. TQ.

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Jawapan Azizi Ali:

Wa'alaikumsalam Tuan Mohd Fakaruddin,

If I say that Swisscash is the best investment in the world, would it make everything alright?

But how can I say such a thing when all the signs are showing that it is a Ponzi scheme? How can I say it when all the alarm bells are ringing and red flags are showing that it is a Ponzi scheme? So I cannot and will not say it because I know Get-Rich-Quick (GRQ) /Ponzi schemes will not do anyone good.

Here, you are either part of the problem or you are part of the solution. If you ‘invest' in Ponzi schemes (even though the money may be just a token amount), then you are part of the problem. By staying out, then you are part of the solution.

In many ways, the GRQ schemes operating on the Internet are pretty much like the Superman movies. Everyone - except the actors in the movie - knows that Clark Kent is Superman. The signs are obvious: Kent and Superman are the same height, same size an heck, they even look the same. What's more, every time Kent is missing, Superman show up. And everytime Superman is around, Kent is not there. So the signs are obvious to everyone, except to the actors in the movie. They do not, cannot and will not see the signs.

Similarly, the signs showing that the GRQ schemes operating on the Internet (and off it as well) are scams are obvious to everyone, except to the voluntary victims. Just as the actors are blind to the fact that Clark Kent is Superman, the voluntary victims are blind to the fact that the GRQ schemes are scams. They do not, cannot and will not see the signs.

1. Semua skim Ponzi akan menggalakkan ‘pelaburnya' merekrut ‘pelabur' baru, kerana itulah cara utama mereka mendapatkan wang baru. (Itulah yang saudara sedang lakukan sekarang dengan meminta saya melabur diskim ini.) Tanpa ‘pelabur-pelabur' baru, skim tersebut akan berkubur dengan cepat.

2. Pulangan yang dijanjikan adalah 20% (atau lebih) sebulan, yang bermakna 240% setahun! Pelabur-pelabur world class seperti Warren Buffett dan George Soros pun ‘hanya' memberi pulangan 20 - 34% setahun! Adakah masuk akal orang yang tidak pernah dikenali dapat memberikan pulangan yang sebegitu tinggi? Kalau betul pula, sudah tentu semua media di dunia termasuk CNN, Fortune dan Forbes akan memberi liputan yang menyeluruh kepada pengurus dana tersebut. Kenapa tak ada? Takkanlah media dunia (yang tahu semua pelaburan lain) begitu buta dan tidak pernah mendengar pulangan yang sebegitu hebat?

3. Adakah masuk akal yang pelaburan yang baru dibuat satu bulan sudah boleh mendapat pulangan 20% bulan berikutnya? Semua pelaburan, termasuk yang paling untung sekalipun, memerlukan masa. Kalaulah ‘pengurus' dana itu betul melaburkan wang dalam forex, hedge funds dan sebagainya, pelaburan tersebut pun tidak membayar hasilnya lepas satu atau dua bulan. Jadi kalau ‘pengurus' sendiri tidak dapat hasil pulangan, macam mana dia hendak bayar orang lain? Dari mana datangnya wang tersebut? Jawapannya dari poin 13 di bawah.

4. ‘Pengurus' dana hanya menyebut forex, hedge funds, komoditi dan lain-lain (to impres people who wants to be impressed) tetapi tidak menerangkan dengan terperinci tentang pelaburan-pelaburan tersebut. Siapa pun boleh sebut - sebab cakap saja.

5. Sebab pelaburan itu ada di ‘offshore' tidak bermakna yang pulangannya akan menggunung. Pelaburan di ‘offshore' adalah sama sahaja dengan pelaburan di ‘onshore' - mutual funds, unit trusts, fixed deposits dan sebagainya.

6. Anda sendiri baru sebulan membuat ‘pelaburan' (ehm, ehm) dalam skim tersebut. Adakah itu bermakna anda seorang pakar dalam pelaburan dan orang lain yang tidak melabur dangkal?

7. Pendapat dan kata-kata anda bermakna ratusan pakar kewangan di Bank Negara, Suruhanjaya Sekuriti, Azizi Ali dan juga media massa Malaysia adalah salah! Saya tidak fikir kami salah.

8. Untuk pengetahuan anda, saya telah membuat kajian yang terperinci tentang pelaburan ini di Malaysia dan juga di negara-negara asing termasuk di UK, USA dan Eropah. Very, very few people have heard of Swisscash. Isn't that strange? Only Malaysians and Singaporeans (and a handful of others) seem to know about them. Could the rest of the world be so blind? Or could we be the ones who are being taken for a ride?

9. Sebagai seorang Chartered Financial Consultant, saya telah belajar tentang semua pelaburan di dunia. Saya juga telah membaca lebih 700 buah buku tentang kewangan. Further, I have studied about money and investments for the past 15 years. So I will reserve my comments about the ‘dangkal' part.

10. Tidak ada seorang Financial Consultant yang bertauliah di dunia akan mengatakan pelaburan sebegini adalah valid kerana mereka tahu ianya skim Ponzi.

11. Semua ‘pelabur' skim Ponzi akan berkata "Cuba dulu. Sikit saja. Belum cuba, belum tahu." Jawapan saya: Kenapa nak cuba jika anda tahu benda itu merbahaya? Kenapa nak cuba jika anda tahu benda itu membawa penyakit? You don't have to try drugs to know that it will bring serious consequences to you, your family and everybody else around you.

12. Semua jawapan yang diberikan oleh ‘pelabur' Swisscash sekarang adalah sama sahaja seperti apa yang diberikan oleh ‘pelabur' skim Pak Man Telo di tahun 1980an. The exact same answers - the local banks are jealous, the government don't understand the investment and the non-investors are blind for not investing in this ‘golden' opportunity.

13. Anda mendapat pulangannya kerana wang itu datang daripada pelaburan orang-orang yang baru masuk dalam skim tersebut. The money is being recycled. Just as your ‘investment' is being used to pay others before you. Situasi ini mungkin akan bertahan satu, dua atau tiga tahun, tetapi apa yang pasti ialah ianya akan berkubur juga apabila tiada ‘pelabur' baru. Apabila ia berlaku, anda akan kehilangan semua wang anda.

14. Jika rakan anda memberikan anda wang daripada hasil rompakan, apakah anda akan terima wang tersebut? Jika rakan anda memberikan anda wang hasil daripada jualan dadah, apakah anda akan terima wang tersebut? Saya jangka anda akan menolak wang tersebut kerana tahu ianya hasil daripada kerja yang haram. Well, wang daripada skim Ponzi juga adalah salah dan pada pendapat saya adalah haram.

15. Anda boleh ambil harta anak kecil yatim piatu - kerana dia tidak berdaya untuk menghalang anda dan dia juga mungkin tidak faham situasi sebenar - tetapi apakah tindakan anda itu betul? Jika anda tahu benda itu tidak betul, apakah anda akan melakukannya kerana peluangnya ada di depan mata? Wang daripada skim-skim tersebut adalah daripada poket orang lain. Tiada usaha, tiada kerja dan tiada apa yang di ‘value-added'. Apa yang pasti ialah semua mereka akan kehilangan wang akhirnya. Kini anda tahu situasi sebenar, adakah anda masih mahu melabur di skim sebegitu?

16. At the end of the day, it is your money. You do what you want with it. Just don't drag others into it.

Are we men of steel and character or are we made of straws that can be crushed by the flimsiest wind? I'd like to think the former, where we think and act rationally, especially when it comes to investments. Kita melabur hanya selepas membuat kajian yang teliti tentang pelaburan tersebut dan risiko-risikonya, dan juga mengambil kira keadaan kewangan kita. Of course we will make mistakes along the way (I made a few myself) but that is the very nature of investments. They come with risks. So it is no shame to lose.

But it is another story altogether when it comes to GRQ schemes. All the signs are there and all the alarm bells are ringing - including warnings from Bank Negara, the Securities Commission and now Azizi Ali.

Are we so blind not to see the obvious signs? Are we so desperate that we are willing to lose our money and even our dignity in the process?

Saya boleh menceritakan 1,001 sebab lagi (klik di bawah untuk lebih informasi) mengapa pelaburan yang dibincangkan adalah satu skim Ponzi, tetapi saya tahu ia merupakan usaha yang sia-sia - kerana anda sudah membuat keputusannya. So I will not confuse you with the facts further since your mind is already made up.

http://www.MillionairesPlanet.com/books_specialreport.htm

As for the ‘respect' bit, Tuan Mohd Fakaruddin, I have never done anything in my life just to make people love and respect me. I do what I love to do, give it all I've got, do the best that I can and tell things as it is. After that, whether people judge that I'm good or small or half good or half small is up to them. If they like what I do, then I'm happy. If they don't, then that's fine too. This is a free country.

While I can warn people about the dangers, I cannot stop anyone from throwing their money away. Again, at the end of the day, it is your money. You can do whatever you want with it, including giving it to con man.

I consider this matter closed.

Wassalam.

And now, some words about Get-Rich-Quick schemes

One chap has written to me saying that he has lost respect for me for writing negatively about Get-Rich-Quick schemes (GRQ) operating on the Internet. I suppose he wanted to hear me say that the Internet investments are the best in the world.

But how can I say such a thing when all the signs are showing that most of them are Ponzi schemes? How can I say such a thing when all the bells are ringing and red flags are showing that they are Ponzi schemes? So I cannot and will not say it because I know GRQ/Ponzi schemes will not do anyone any good.

In many ways, the GRQ schemes operating on the Internet are pretty much like the Superman movies. Everyone - except the actors in the movie - knows that Clark Kent is Superman. The signs are obvious: Kent and Superman are the same height, same size and heck, they even look the same. What's more, every time Kent is missing, Superman shows up. And every time Superman is around, Kent is not there. So the signs are obvious to everyone, except to the actors in the movie. They do not, cannot and will not see the signs.

Similarly, the signs showing that the GRQ schemes operating on the Internet (and off it as well) are scams are obvious to everyone, except to the voluntary victims. Just as the actors are blind to the fact that Clark Kent is Superman, the voluntary victims are blind to the fact that the GRQ schemes are scams. They do not, cannot and will not see the signs.

Let's look at just a few points.

The typical GRQ operators promise to pay 20 percent return a month. That's the equivalent of 240 percent a year. To put it in perspective, that is better than practically all other investments in the history of the world! It would make the GRQ operators better fund managers than Warren Buffett, George Soros, Peter Lynch and John Templeton put together. Check out the performances of these world class fund managers in the table below:

Imagine that? Even these legendary managers could only (!) give a return of 14 to 34 percent per year. And they are the best in the world!

Now does it make sense to you? Does it make sense that people who probably never studied investments at all are the world's best investment managers? Does it make sense that people who no one has ever heard of suddenly becoming the world's greatest investor ever? Does it makes sense that they can give returns of 240 percent (or higher) in a year, beating even these legends?

Of course not. There is no way that the GRQ operators are the world's best fund managers. (They could win awards as the world's greatest con artist though!)  

Further, the GRQ operators promise to pay the return the very next month after we've made our investment. Wow and double wow! All other investments in the world require some time before the fruits of the investments can be seen, which is why the returns are only paid out after six months, one year or even later. These include the most profitable investments.

If it is true that the ‘managers' of the GRQ schemes invest our money in forex, hedge funds, mutual funds, etc., etc., they must be super magicians because they can pay us in one month even though they themselves get the money once or twice a year! So where is the money coming from? Could the answer be "from the latest ‘investor' into the scheme?"

Bingo!

Hmm, more clues as to where this is getting to.

"You have to give it a chance"

A quick retort from the ‘investors' of such scheme is "You should give it a chance. How do you know if it is good or bad until you try it?"

The retorts are fine by themselves. I have no arguments with the retorts and would agree with them most of the time.

But let's look at the end results here. Some things you do not have to experience yourself to know that it can be very painful. You do not have to jump down ten feet to know that you can break both legs. You do not have to be bitten by a snake to know that it can be very painful (to say the least).

Why should you give a snake a chance to bite you, especially if you have seen it biting your relatives? Why should you dump your money in GRQ/Ponzi schemes when you have seen your relatives losing hundreds of thousands?  

Why it works initially

"I agree with what you are saying here, Azizi," some people will be quick to point out. "But the reality is that the early investors are getting their money back on a regular basis. As a matter of fact, they have not missed receiving the dividends at all. Every month, there's money in their bank accounts. What have you got to say about it?"

Of course they got their money. They got their money because that's how the operators attract more people into the scheme. If the early investors (and I use the term loosely here) lost money, the scheme will come to a grounding halt very quickly. And that is a big no-no to the whole operation. We need to remember that the operators of the scheme are no fools.

Let me now explain how and why the scheme will work in the initial days.

To attract investors, the operators must have a valid business model. If the model is suspect, then few people would want to risk their money outright. But when a valid business model is presented, it is much easier to attract investors. They have to if they want to attract investors into the scheme!

These valid profit opportunity and business model can be running a business (perhaps supplying huge contracts to some governments somewhere) or some exotic investments which can be trading in currencies (or the more glamorous name of forex), futures or commodities or using the power of the Internet. Of course, some schemes will not even bother to have products. Instead, they will come straight out and ask you to send them RM20, forward the mail to twenty other people who will then do likewise. After a hundred days, you'll earn over RM100,000!

But whatever the scheme, the operators will make sure that the early investors will get their money as promised in the beginning days. Not a single payment will be late or missed. Everything is exactly as promised.

Precisely because the early investors are getting their money back is the reason why the scheme works a treat in the early days. They have earned the trust of the early investors. These early investors will then tell others, usually their friends, colleagues or family members, about the scheme. They do this for two reasons: (1) to share their good fortune with their loved ones and more importantly, (2) because they are getting a commission from each new investor that they bring in...

For a more comprehensive explanation, please read my Special Report entitled "The burning truth about Swisscash, Get-Rich-Quick schemes and Other Unworldly Investments". This 40 page report covers Internet investments, how to detect a GRQ scheme and steps to protect yourself and your loved ones. Ordering details are on the website: www.millionairesplanet.com/books_specialreport.htm

Copyright © Azizi Ali 2007