Just recently, two companies in the overseas real estate business
- Dolphin Capital Asia and Shenton Wealth Holdings - have been put on the
Monetary Authority of Singapore's Investor Alert List. Both companies are
related.
In doing due diligence for a client on the investments proposed by
the above, a financial adviser noted that "the Beneficiaries'
Representative is someone whose registered address is in a place called
Seychelle - Never heard of."
Yes, he noted, there is a well-known island called Seychelles with
an "s" at the end. "How can a legal document written by a law
firm got the spelling of a country wrong or is there another explanation? Or is
there really such an address '306, Victoria House, Mahe, Seychelle'?"
The financial adviser searched the address using Google Earth
assuming it's Seychelles. "Very puzzling to find the closest match is a
Hilton Resort. Further digging uncovers a disturbing info that it may be a
popular identical address used by some get-rich-quick schemes (as reported
at http://info.hyip-expert.com/stoic-capital-review-and-information/)," he said.
I attended these seminars more than a year ago. Then they were touting 12% over 12 months (2% per month from the 7th to 12th month). But now if you go to the website of the company selling this, the holding period has increased to 24 months. It is now 24% over 24 months. Why has the holding period increased? Does borrowing from a bank in Germany cost the developer more than 12% a year which is why they must look for equity investors?
Remember to do your due diligence. Also, if it is too good to be
true, it usually is.
