A fool and his money

Browsing through some old newspapers the other day, I came across an astounding story in the Straits Times.

Headlined "Con man cheated 91 people of $13 million", it was a local story, not one from a place that doesn't quite make it even into Google maps, which might explain the simple-mindedness of the victims.

Indeed, of of those caught in this scam were successful professionals in their own right, while the culprit, Lee Hock Chye, was a mere 30-year-old, blind in one eye and 'not very articulate'.

And instead of finding this cause for suspicion that the promised high returns could be achieved, one of the victims actually gave it as a reason for trusting him.


This victim who lost $518,000 said:"He looked to be in a bit of a pitiful state and all these things made him seem relatively harmless. It gave the impression he was trying to make a decent living."


Lee's victims - including retirees, businessmen and students - gave him amounts ranging from $430 to $744,000, after he promised them returns as high as 30 per cent.


Lee had set up a company, LePrime, to give the illusion that he was trading in the index futures market and could offer various investment schemes with high returns. He claimed that LePrime conducted trading in Dow Jones, Hang Seng Index and Nikkei 225 Index.

His victims are said to have fallen for the lure of making a quick buck.

In my view, that may be true for those who had small sums of money and not much sophistication.

But those who are senior managers, professionals and businessmen?

It seems to me that more than greed, they all don't have brains or common sense!
Lee for 14 years on 16 counts of cheating, with another149 similar charges were taken into consideration.

Considering that he managed over two years to swindle his 91 victims of $13.4 million, of which only $3 million was recovered, he could be said to have "earned" roughly $5 million per year.

Another way to look at it is, the 14 years' jail -- or about 10 years after one-third remission for good behaviour -- he will serve one year for every $1 million that he swindled.

Very few hard-working Singaporeans receive $1 million for every year they invest in work.

That's why con-games are so popular and why fools continue to feed the market.

Giving up the Straits Times in 2010

Finally decided not to continue with my subscription of the Straits Times into 2010, because hip-hip-hurray, i discovered I didn't sign up for two years' subscription. Just one. While the $332 I will save isn't a large sum, I am making an effort not to waste money on needless consumption.

I no longer read the paper from end to end; the classified ads plus all the pages with the display ads are usually discarded first thing be4 I even get to the news.

I no longer read from end to end, because there are so many alternative sources of information as well as alternative distractions. Also, as an ordinary citizen, I've no need to know everything whether world news or local news in detail.

I hate not finishing the paper daily and have developed the habit of holding back sections to read more closely when I find the time. However I never seem to find enough time and/or interest to complete reading yesterday's, last month's, or last half-year's news.

A friend told me she's just begun to read her July papers; not because she's been away but because she never manages to catch up with the papers that are delivered. She steadfastly refuses to read current news until she finishes the backlog!

She's the opposite of my mother, who refuses to let go of her Zaobao till she's gone thru all the pages. Then she never looks at them again because "who wants to read old news?"

I have neither of their discipline. I just scan, read fully here and skip there. Then when I go over the old papers piling up, I just pick them up randomly. Hence I've got papers from April, August and many from September and October. With the year coming to the end, most will go unread.

Next year, i won't be bugged by the weight of old half-read or unread newspapers. Or have good shelf space taken up. And should the desire to hold a paper in my hand creep up on me, I can always assuage that with a quick leap to the petrol station next door and pick up that day's paper

Waste of time and money

In my previous post, I had written about signing up for two years worth of the Straits Times. It wasn't so much I liked the publication but because I was persuaded by the discount available if I took two years' worth of subscription instead of one year.

Come to think of it, it couldn't have been that attractive a discount or I would have remembered the exact cut.

But like most Singaporeans, I'm a sucker for discounts and low-value purchases.

Hence, my drawers are full of low-value earrings which i find irresistable. Hardly a pair cost more than $100; most considerably less or are even free, the last being gifts.

Yet as one astute friend pointed out: how many pairs can you wear at one time?

Not more than one pair I guess since mine are 90% dangles and in any case, I've pierced my ears only once, unlike the younger generation.

So, ahead of a trip to Melbourne, I've emptied drawers and boxes of earrings that I've not worn for years to donate to the thrift shop in that city where my hostess is a volunteer. According to her, shoppers at the thrift are willing to pay good money for earrings, even second-hand stuff.

I found more than 50 pairs to spare and possibly another 50 to 60 pairs I can't bear to part with.

Assuming the earrings I'm going to give away had cost $30 a pair new on average, I had spent $1,500 but not really maxed out the benefits. Worse, I might even have wasted time dithering over which pair to wear because of the many choices.

If I had just a dozen pairs, then the dilemma would be significantly less, and so less time wasted.

So, in the interest of saving time and cutting out wasteful, if not pointless, spending, I plan to give away more earrings in time to come.

Waste of money subscribing to the Straits Times?

Is Singapore's MSM or mainstream media becoming increasingly irrelevant as suggested by this blogger who calls himself/herself Flaneurose?

I recall a recent conversation with a friend who told me she's reading the July issues of the Straits Times. And our conversation was taking place in late October!!

I can empathise with her because I too have many back issues of the ST still unread -- not always because I wasn't in Singapore on the relevant days. It's just that on any one day, I find it increasingly difficult to finish reading the ST, even the more interesting sections.

It's not because I think the paper has declined in quality or that it has massively increased its pages, though both might be partly true. But if there aren't that many competing attractions/distractions in my life, I guess I would still be going thru the ST religiously.

Alas for the ST and other MSM: there are so many alternatives, not necessarily the Internet alone. There are many malls to visit for example. There are many more TV channels. And of cos the Internet besides offering news and views that are more up to date and often more controversial than MSM also offers film and TV shows, information and education on myriad topics...etc

So, one good way to cut down on unnecessary spending and wastage is to cut off my ST subscription and buy only the occasional issue. That way, I will not only save a little money and some space as I won't need to have room for the stacks of the half-read papers with their months' old news.

Trouble is that last year I had in a moment of enthusiasm signed up for a two year subscription and that doesn't end till end-2010.

Moral of this: don't buy in haste and repent at leisure.