Update (9th September): The internet celebrity who was accused, Thomas Wong (黄小祥), has refuted the businessman’s allegations. You can his video statement here.
Original post follows:
When it comes to the financial world, one aspect people like to focus on is taking risks. As the saying goes, no pain, no gain! However, there’s no denying that sometimes, the risks can be too much.
A local businessman was horrified to discover he’d taken a huge risk in trusting an internet celebrity. Apparently, he had agreed to jointly open a bar with them. Unfortunately, the bar closed after two months and their business partner has fled the country to start a casino in Vietnam!
The 51-year-old businessman, surnamed Wang (王钟福), is supposedly in the printing business. However, he met a live-streamer, surnamed Huang, through a friend last November. At the time, he found the streamer to be a straightforward and talented person. As such, he ended up trusting the streamer.
A short while after their first meeting, the internet celebrity asked Wang if he wanted to jointly invest in opening a bar. Wang listened to his proposal and investment plan and decided it was feasible. As such, he ended up investing RM480,000 in the bar. However, things did not go to plan.
“From January to March this year, I remitted money to (Huang) five times,” Wang said during a press conference held yesterday (6th September) in Puchong. “But the 32% of the shares we agreed to were not received, and the business accounts could not be (updated).” The final straw came when the bar, which had only been operating for two months, closed without warning.
Wang stated the sudden closure had come as a surprise and he was quick to suspect that the money he had invested had depleted. He added that upon checking Huang’s socials, he discovered the internet celebrity had gone to Vietnam. In fact, he had even opened a casino there.
“Because of the decline in business in recent years, the printing company I used to work in wanted to (expand) in other business sectors and make a little more money,” Wang shared. “But, I didn’t expect it to be like this.” He also shared that he had mistakenly signed a contract with Huang and sent the money to him before Huang had signed.
The last time Wang had seen the influencer was supposedly at a party in June. At the time, Huang had been drinking heavily and allegedly beat up several waiters. “When I looked for him then, I started to (lose trust) in him,” he said.
Wang had already reported the case to the police in July. However, he hopes to alert others of the fraud and pressure the influencer into returning his money. “I don’t want the money I made from the investment,” he said. “I just want to get the original amount back.”
Source: China Press
