On 18 June 2020, 46-year-old Ahmadnawar Bin Abd Karim (“Ahmadnawar”) was convicted of cheating and carrying on a business in fund management, a regulated activity under the Securities and Futures Act, without the requisite licence from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”).
Between 2015 and 2017, Ahmadnawar offered an investment scheme to investors, where he would trade in leveraged foreign exchange (“forex”) on their behalf. He promised them returns of up to 1% per day. However, he made losses on his forex trades. In an attempt to recover his losses and pay earlier investors, he defrauded two subsequent investors of more than $132,000 over multiple occasions. He told these two persons that their monies would be used solely for their investments, which was not true. No restitution has been made to the two victims.
Ahmadnawar was convicted of the following offences:
a. Six counts of cheating under Section 420 of the Penal Code; and
b. One count of carrying on a business in a regulated activity without holding a capital markets services licence under Section 82 of the Securities and Futures Act.
Nine other similar cheating charges were taken into consideration for sentencing purposes.
Ahmadnawar has been sentenced to 26 months’ imprisonment.
Members of the public are advised to adopt the following measures concerning investment schemes:
· Avoid investments that promise high returns, “guaranteed profits” and quick gains, especially when there are claims that it involves little or no risk.
· Be careful when dealing with unregulated entities or persons. If you choose to deal with unregulated entities or persons, you will forgo the protection available under MAS’ regulations.
· Before committing to an investment, always Ask, Check and Confirm.
o ASK
ASK as many questions as you need to fully understand the investment opportunity. If the company is unable to, or avoids answering any of your questions, be wary!
o CHECK
CHECK on the company, its owners, directors and management members to assess if the opportunity is genuine
o CONFIRM
CONFIRM the company’s and representatives’ credentials by using available resources, including the Financial Institutions Directory, Register of Representatives and Investor Alert List on the MAS’ website (www.mas.gov.sg).
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
19 June 2020 @ 6:36 PM