Terence Lim Yoong Fook was convicted on 5 November 2020 and sentenced on 19 January 2021 to a global sentence of 6 months’ imprisonment and fines amounting to $210,000 for promoting a prohibited multi-level marketing scheme involving a purported cryptocurrency, OneCoin, and incorporating a company, One Concept Pte Ltd, to promote the same scheme.
Participants took part in the scheme by purchasing packages which contained online educational courses bundled with promotional tokens. They were told that these promotional tokens could be used to ‘mine’ OneCoin. Participants of the scheme could receive commissions by directly referring people who purchased these packages, and if the participants that they brought in referred other people in turn.
From June 2015 to at least January 2019, Terence Lim Yoong Fook actively promoted the scheme by organising seminars to recruit participants. A number of these seminars were held at the office of One Concept Pte Ltd, a company which he had set up for the purpose of marketing the scheme. As at June 2017, at least 2,349 members in Singapore had joined the scheme due to the promotional efforts of Terence Lim Yoong Fook and other members of his team. Terence Lim Yoong Fook earned commissions from such recruitment.
Terence Lim Yoong Fook was convicted of one count of promoting a prohibited multi-level marketing scheme and one count of incorporating a company intended to promote a prohibited multi-level marketing scheme. Both charges carry a maximum imprisonment term of 5 years, and/or a maximum fine of $200,000 under the Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Selling (Prohibition) Act.
On 1 July 2020, another man, Fok Fook Seng had been convicted of one count of promoting a prohibited multi-level marketing scheme in relation to his promotion of the scheme involving OneCoin. He was sentenced to a fine of $100,000.
Members of the public are advised not to participate in or promote any multi-level marketing scheme involving OneCoin or One Concept Pte Ltd. Promoters of the scheme involving OneCoin may be subjected to prosecution under the Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Selling (Prohibition) Act.
Members of the public are also advised not to deal with unregulated entities or persons when they come across such investment opportunities. If you choose to deal with unregulated entities or persons, you will forgo the protection available under the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) regulations.
Before committing to an investment, always Ask, Check and Confirm.
- 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!
- CHECK on the company, its owners, directors and management members to assess if the opportunity is genuine.
- 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
20 January 2021 @ 3:15 PM