“AI technology is scary” – Seasoned Malaysian stock investor loses RM350K to AI-powered scam

MALAYSIA: “AI technology is scary” – This was how a Malaysian woman, Miss D, described her experience after losing RM350,000 (S$105,075) to an AI-powered scam in just two months.

According to a YouTube video by KiniTV, Miss D is a seasoned stock market investor in Malaysian and foreign stocks who has always been cautious with her investments, attending in-person investment classes in Klang Valley for years. However, in March 2024, she decided to try something new—an online investment course she found on advertisements online that promised big returns.

She shared, “I used to attend investment classes in person, and a lot of the advertisements I saw were from Facebook. I clicked on one and started attending a free class.

“The analysis they provided was very good and suited the market trends. Their reports are equivalent to what you’d get if you go to a bank to ask about investments, and sometimes, the reports they show are actually better than the bank report.”

She noted that the strategy they used was very safe, as they asked to invest in “good chips.”

“I saw that the face of the fund manager matched with what I found on a US webpage, so I felt confident and followed their strategy. After two or three months, they recommended an international broker, which was also based in the US. I searched online and found it was ranked as one of the top 10 brokers in the US. When I checked their Singapore webpage, it looked very professional, with no signs of it being a scam,” she added.

Since all the addresses for the broker’s headquarters appeared correct, she confidently opened an account. The company sent someone to verify the process, then she proceeded to sell her local shares. The broker then encouraged her to invest in Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) through their international platform, which had more offers.

She said they recommended Taiwanese and Chinese IPOs, and after verifying the details, she felt confident trusting them since everything appeared legitimate.

The first time she invested in the Taiwan IPO, she sold the shares right away, which gave her more confidence. The second time, she made about 100% profit, and by the third time, with the China IPO, they offered her 1.2 million. Feeling unsure about handling such a large amount, she told them she couldn’t take it all. 

She explained, “When you participate in the IPO and they allocate the volume to you, then you have to take all of it. If you cannot subscribe to all, then you have to pay a fee.”

This made her feel suspicious saying, “I feel that it’s not right.” So she checked the website again and found out that the company didn’t have any affiliates in Malaysia.

“I got scammed already,” she said in realisation. 

Breaking the contract led to her account being frozen. Initially, she had invested RM350,000 (S$105,075), which had grown to around RM600,000 (S$180,129), including the returns. The broker then informed her that to unfreeze the account, she would need to pay about RM300,000 (S$90,064).

She reported the incident to the police. During the investment classes, the person had shown his face and spoken to her, but she later learned from the inspector that AI can change faces and voices.

According to her, the current “AI technology is scary.” “I really feel sad because all my savings are gone,” she said. She advised others to always conduct in-person research to avoid similar scams. /TISG

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