Scan O Scam...

Woman loses RM1.2mil to ‘British’ man through Internet

KUALA LUMPUR: A virtual friendship cost a 47-year-old housewife a very real RM1.2mil. The con man she had befriended on the Internet did not just wipe out her savings but also that of her mother, sister, niece and her husband’s funds for investments.

The woman, who only wanted to be known as Madam Lee, said a man who claimed to be a British offshore engineer named Jeff Brian Manik had added her to his list of online friends last year. Lee said the man told her that he was sending 10 gifts for Easter, including a designer wrist watch, perfume, a Louis Vuitton bag, jewellery, a laptop computer, a camera and his latest picture through a courier service in April.

“He asked me to pay RM16,500 as a deposit to claim those gifts, which I did by banking the money into two local bank accounts, but I did no see any gifts in the end,” she told a press conference held by MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong yesterday. She said she received an e-mail from a man said to be Manik’s agent about two weeks later who told her Manik wanted to invest in property in Malaysia and needed her help to handle his £2.3mil for the transaction.

“I was convinced after I met the agent at a hotel with a suitcase of pound sterling notes,” she said. Lee said she deposited cash close to RM400,000 with various agents via various account names between April 20 and May 11 for the transfer of the money here. She said she deposited RM586,000 into a company account on May 16 after she received a call from one of the agents that there was a 5% tax charge on the £2.5mil.On May 26, Lee said she paid another RM258,000 to the same company.

Lee said she felt something was amiss when she never received the gifts but she was convinced by the so-called agent about the so-called Manik’s interest in investing in Malaysia. “I just wanted to help a friend but I did not expect it to turn out like this, I just want the money back to repay my family and friends,” she said, adding that she had never met Manik.

This week, she lodged a police report. Chong said he had received complaints from 18 women of a similar cheating scam with losses amounting to more than RM2.4mil since 2007. “Please be wary of these con men,” he said. “Some of these women were not only cheated of their hearts but all their money, too.” Chong said the British High Commission had received many complaints of such cases where a man with a British accent would befriend a woman through the Internet.

Read here >> http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/6/4/nation/6399068&sec=nation

Palm oil output expected to rise

Palm oil output expected to rise

YOGYAKARTA: Malaysia palm oil stocks are set to recover in May and rise faster in the next three months as Asian consumers take up more soyaoil that trades on par with the tropical oil, a senior official said yesterday.

Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB) director-general Datuk Dr Mohd Basri Wahid said palm oil stocks usually fall in the June-August period as top buyers India and the Middle East stock up for religious festivals from August starting from Ramandan fasting month. But ample South American supplies of soyaoil have made the normally expensive vegetable oil trade at same level as FOB palm olein seen at US$810 (RM2,632.5) for June delivery, prompting a switch of orders away from Malaysia, the No. 2 palm oil producer.

Also, India has record stocks of oilseeds for crushing, discouraging crude palm oil imports from top producer Indonesia as well as Malaysia. "Palm oil stocks and exports seasonality in Malaysia has been turned upside down," Mohd Basri said in an interview ahead of an industry meet in the historic Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. "April palm oil stocks hit 1.6 million tonnes and we will go way above that in the next three months," he said, declining to give details.

MPOB, a key regulator for the industry, will release its May palm oil stocks, production and export data on June 10. Adding to the palm oil stock build-up in Malaysia is a stronger output from May and June onwards as El Nino-driven hot weather eases and stops aggravating yield stress in oil palms, Mohd Basri said. But the effects of the unusual weather condition may be felt during the sesaonal peak output season in October as higher temperatures in the first quarter of this year may have stunted oil-rich palm flowers that take six months to bear fruit.

"El Nino was not as bad as we feared it would be. There could a moderation in the output but I believe we can meet our target range of 17 and 18.1 million tonnes for production this year," Mohd Basri said. "It will just be at the lower end." - Bloomberg

Read more:  http://www.btimes.com.my/Current_News/BTIMES/articles/mpob31/Article/index_html