SEVERAL years ago, a young man got on the internet to learn about foreign exchange and trading shares and investment.

Six months later, he started a binary option investment scheme, which failed miserably.

Undeterred, he decided to pick up a little risk management. So he got a job in a casino in the United States. Around the same time, he signed up for a course to learn more about forex and the stock exchange.

In 2014, he returned to Malaysia, a self-taught and “well-armed” young man with some ideas on investment schemes.

In 2015, he met a trader and the JJ Poor to Rich scheme was born. An  unlicensed forex trading scheme, JJPTR has drawn thousands of investors with the promise of a 20% monthly return, but is now in danger of collapsing like a stack of cards, leaving only a RM500 million hole and a host of questions, starting with, where is Johnson Lee?

This is his story. Or the story that he tells everyone anyway.

It’s not quite rags to riches but somewhere in between. It’s also hard to verify any of it because the man is nowhere to be found.

‘Money back guarantee’

Since news broke that JJPTR is in trouble, the 28-year-old Johnson has been communicating with his investors through voice recordings on his Facebook page.

In his latest message, he pledges to return the money investors say they have lost.

“I can guarantee that I will repay the money. How long? It will be faster than the bank’s fixed deposit. This I dare guarantee. Every sen will be returned.”

Lee then talks up a new investment plan and assures the investors he is getting professionals to find out who is causing problems for JJPTR and its investors. 

His voice rings with confidence – the same confidence he displayed at an investment seminar in Penang last year that had impressed Simon, an investor from the northern state.

“Johnson was finishing his talk when I walked in. I remember hearing him speak good English. Very smooth,” said Simon, who works in a factory. He recalled that Lee was born in the United States and could also speak Mandarin fluently.

The Malaysian Insight checks find out that Lee is single, lives in George Town, and has some 12,200 Facebook followers.

On his Facebook page, he introduces himself as “an investor and a marketer… But the most important is become a good boss to change people’s lives! (sic)”

There are pictures of him posing with others at the opening ceremonies of JJPTR branches. Some show him speaking at seminars.

On jjptr-global.blogspot.my‎, Lee supplies the information that he was born in California in 1989, and that he had not been able to get into a Malaysian university because he had failed Bahasa Malaysia, even though he had scored good results in Mathematics and Science.

As such, Lee’s parents had sold their house in Malaysia to send him and his sister to study in the US. It is unclear if he completed his studies. 

It’s also a puzzle why thousands of Malaysians were willing to put their money in a scheme run by a young man with no finance or banking experience. Perhaps it was greed, for some. For others, it might have been an opportunity to make some spending money.

Breaking even against long odds

Simon, who is in his 30s, said he was not too worried, unlike other JJPTR investors who were now afraid they would not be getting their money back.

“I broke even earlier this year,” Simon said.

He said he invested US$1,000 (RM4,450) for which he received U$200 a month in returns as guaranteed.

In five months, he had got his capital back. 

“The method is like this: you buy at RM4.60 per dollar, and sell at RM4.20. So if I want to withdraw my investment now, I get RM4,200.

“But with the problem JJPTR is facing, I think they are paying the newer investors first. Those like me are not the priority since we have broken even,” he said.

Too good to last

The guarantee of a 20% return each month attracted many to the scheme, although there is no telling exactly how many and how much. 

Simon said he knew of couples who started with US$1,000 and topped up after getting their capital back in returns.

“I heard of husbands and wives whose combined investments are worth five figures now. They started investing right after JJPTR was launched in 2015 and they continued to top up.

“You can top up after you break even. But only up to four times. Maybe it is five times now. I can’t remember the terms and conditions offhand,” he said.

As may be imagined, the scheme spread best through word of mouth. Those enjoying regular returns invited relatives and friends to get on board.

Simon convinced three aunts, two uncles and a cousin to invest in the forex scheme.

But because they did not invest too much, said Simon, they were not overly worried by the news that JJPTR had imploded.

“(They invested) Just a few hundred dollars. But I know some people are worried. I have a colleague playing this money game and she looks worried. I think she put in quite a bit.”

The more, the merrier

Simon said investors earned a commission, a small percentage that he was unable to recall, when they recruited others to join the scheme.

He learnt about JJPTR from a factory manager last year. Many of those working in the factories were talking about it, he said.

“You usually learn about such things from people in your line of work. Many people working in factories have been worried about their jobs and the rising cost of living.

“The economy hasn’t been very good. Jobs are not as secure as before. Bonuses are cut, and salary increases are so little they are almost meaningless. 

“So when people hear of these schemes, they will invest.”

Johnson Lee was counting on the guarantee of a 20% montly return to reel them in.

He knew that many Malaysians would consider the initial investment of US$1,000 to be a relatively small sum and thus, low risk.

More importantly, he knew that most of the investors wouldn’t be concerned about his back story until it was too late. – April 27, 2017.