Who wants to be a millionaire?

i've always admired the lady who sells soya bean drink near my place. She's probably around my age or only a few years older, and had been selling soya bean drink in a small shop near the market for a few years. Every day, she works from early morning at about 5plus till noon and then returns home to spend time with her children. She's always smiling, always looking serene and contented. She had mentioned that manning the stall helps her to pass time and at the same time she gets to interact with the people in the neighbourhood. Hmm, how blessed, i've often thought to myself, to be doing something not because you needed the money but because you like it, to be contented with what you have and not covet after what you do not necessary need. i've told myself many times that when all my financial commitments are over, i shall also rent a little stall and sell my favourite soya bean milk and take life easy and serene as her.

Mdm Soya Bean Milk disappeared for almost a month in December last year and i had thought she was on vacation with her family. When i finally saw her a few days back, she told me she had been sponsored by her company to attend a course cum vacation in the United States for 21days and she had thoroughly enjoyed it and sang much praises about her boss and company. While chatting, she recalled my interest for travel and excitedly asked if i would like to get to know her company that provides employees with many opportunities to travel. She didn't have time to elaborate on it 'cos i was rushing to work but we made an appointment to visit 'her company' on my off day. i wondered which soya bean milk supplier has such generous welfare programs for their employees and suspected it might be a time share sort of scam but out of curiosity i decided to see it for myself.

So on my off day afternoon, i found myself with Mdm Soya Bean Milk at a moderate sized office in a commercial building at Tanjong Pagar. The office comprised a few small rooms and a seating area obviously for conducting talks, plus a few round tables, chairs and 2 PC stations. It appeared to be run only by a middle aged couple, with another housewife-looking lady who appeared to be assisting part time. On the walls, were framed photocopies of newspaper cuttings from the Chinese press in the U.S. The articles were all about the boss, an American Chinese ( supposedly a double degree holder and master holder in the science research and businees arena), his interviews with 2 of the American Chinese press elaborating on his plans and vision for the company.

i was ushered into one of the rooms and the lady manager, together with her assistant and Mdm Soya Bean Milk began to explain the company's operations to me. According to them, the company runs the following global operations :-
i) acting as middleman to facilitate non-American Chinese seeking further education in the U.S, (showed me the articles on their collaboration with one of the top universities in California),

ii) acting as middleman in getting investors for land development projects , and

iii) production of health supplements and direct sales of these.

Briefly, i was given an idea of each type of operation and shown some samples of the health supplements which the three of them praised and testified to be working wonders in their lives or in the lives of people they knew.

Basically, the company earns from commissions received acting as the middleman and each employee who brings in a potential customer gets a portion of the commission. When an employee has achieved a certain commissions target, he/she qualifies to be a member under the Bronze, Silver, Gold or Diamond Level depending on the amount of commissions earned. Membership perks include allotment of pre -IPO employee shares, sponsored vacations, sponsored courses in the U.S. , health supplements at discounted prices as well as a Global Cash Card denominated in USD. The company has, supposedly recently applied to be listed on the NASDAQ. Therefore, of all the membership perks, according to the manager, the most attractive would be the share allotment which purportedly has been valued currently at USD 0.50 (an increase of USD0.40 cents since the last valuation) and this has a potential of further escalating to a minimum of USD 20 to USD 80 at the IPO launch planned 2 years later. This implies if you hold 10000 shares now, you'll have a potential of becoming a millionaire 2 years later. Every shareholder will of course also be entitled to dividends.

They then asked if i was interested in owning the pre-IPO shares that are currently only issued to members of the company. They proposed an easier way other than my having to look for sufficient customers to make the minimum commissions target to qualify as a memebr. To become a Bronze member, which will entitle me to 6 bottles of health supplements and 600 shares, all i need to do is to pay SGD 1500 which would be the equivalent of commisions earned. i can also opt to top up the shares to 1200 by paying an additional SGD 1280. But according to them , it would be more worth it getting the Diamond membership which would entitle me to 9000 shares and costs SGD 10800 This, they said could roll into a million dollars if the share price escalates to USD 80 when listed on the NASDAQ.

Seeing my cynism, they then pointed out the cases of Google.com and Baidu.com where not many people had confidence investing in them initially when they were raising funds but that those who did , eventually became instant millionaires with the escalation of the share price on NASDAQ. They also said they themselves had reservations about the company initially but after the recent sponsored 21 days study trip in the U.S and having seen and spoken to the boss, having visited the head office there, having received daily updates from the boss through teleconferencing since their return, having tried the health supplements and benefited from them, they were full of confidence and enthusiasm about the company and the impending IPO launch. As such, Mdm Soya Bean Milk, the assistant and of course the manager said they have all topped up their shares with cash to the max in anticipation of becoming instant millionaires.

They then showed me the group photos of their trip which consisted of a total of 25 members from various parts of Asia posing with some of their American lecturers, photos of their boss interacting with them and the supposedly office building (which i notice did not have a name). They produced a coloured copy of the share certificate, which resembled a university degree certificate with a golden stamp and also showed me, through the internet, the company's website which has versions in various languages.

i was still not moved but remained open minded and told them i would have to check up the background on my own before i commit anything. They did not push me to make an investment on the spot but did remind me the price of the pre- IPO share would be moving up steadily and would cost me more to invest the longer i delay my decision.

i thanked them and left, though not before i've filled up a form with some of my particulars at their insistence.

Obviously, this is another form of MLM (Multi Level Marketing ) , only in this case, the sales pitch is raised with the lure of the shares having a potential of making one an instant millionaire. During my visit at the office, there were a few incoming calls, and though i did not get to hear the conversations, according to the manager, they were calls from members who could not wait to top up their shares as they anticipate the price would increase shortly from the current USD 0.50. Well, sounds like hot property....

i googled on the company's name both in English and Chinese when i went home and found that the only information provided on the internet all came from either the company's website itself or from its members' website, except for the press articles which were identical to the ones posted on the walls in the office. i also did a search on MLMs and read that these mostly originated from the U.S and many are in fact legalised ; many of such companies do list on the stock exchanges and have good enough relationships with the press, with politicians or the people in power to appear to be credible and to survive for years. But, in almost all cases, the company's profits which benefited only the very top few of the membership hierarchy are actually at the expense of the ones at the bottom--the newly recruited members who are the ones paying the most for the much overpriced products, who then struggle to find more recruits (victims) to cover their losses, in the hope of moving up the hierarchy.

As noticed, from the price i was to pay for the shares, each share would then actually cost me more than the said valued USD 0.50. i figured the difference would go into the pockets of the members in the higher rungs, such as Mdm Soya Bean, the assistant and the manager.

i have no doubt that Mdm Soya Bean truly believed in the company, having been thorougly convinced by the free 21 day study trip and the beneficial effects of one of the health supplements on her. i do not believe she is an intentional scammer but i do not eliminate the probability that she had unsuspectingly become one. i continue to keep an open my mind at the possibility that the global company does exist, that they do what they say, that they would eventually list on the NASDAQ and that the share certificates could be authentic and that they could be worth thousands in the days to come.

However, with a looming recession in the U.S economy, without concrete evidence that the company would eventually list on the NASDAQ, without financial reports on the company, without verifying if the pre -IPO share certificates are authentic, would i want to part with thousands to be lured into the millionaire dream? The lady manager did assure me that if it's fraud, they could have easily been exposed; that they have amongst their members, investors who are businessmen themselves ,well versed in the rules of business and could easily have checked up the credibility of the company. They had further assured that the share certificates are exchangeable for health products in the event that i should regret my decision, but this has to be done before any dividend is paid out.

Well, i'm too lazy to do a thorough check up and may not have the resources to do so in the first place and if i should regret my decision after paying thousands of dollars , would bottles of pills be a consolation?

The conservative in me says: What is too easy and too good to be true is probably too easy and too good to be true.

My only hope is that Mdm Soya Bean Milk, who had always looked happy, serene and contented with her soya bean drink stall would not lose all these intangilble blessings should her millionaire dream be dashed.

"For we brought nothing into this world, and is certain that we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
[1 Timothy 6 : 7-10]

Er... but if you are interested to be a millionaire, let me know, so i can 'introduce' you as a member hor.... :)