Chinese investors unfazed by probe
Foreigners shopping as usual at M Mall
GEORGE TOWN: MBI Group International members from China here are unperturbed by the ongoing investigations into the company.
Steady streams of Chinese nationals were at M Mall, where MBI members convert their virtual coins to Loyalty Reward (LR) points and exchange them for groceries, household products, electronic appliances and other items.
They said they were at the mall to shop and not for other purposes.
When approached, an investor from the northeast China, said she had not heard of any protest or dissatisfaction from people in her country over MBI.
“I came to Penang a few days ago for a holiday with my husband. We are just here to shop and spend some of my LR points for some products,” said the woman, who is in her 50s.
A group of members, all in their 40s, were seen shopping around the mall.
“We have not heard of any investor who wants to track down the founder of MBI,” said a woman from Guangdong.
“We are happy with the company, and we enjoy spending our LR points here.”
A man, who wished to be known as Lin from Shenzhen, said many of his friends also invested in MBI, and they did not have any issue with the company.
“I saw something in an online forum claiming there will be a group of Chinese coming to Malaysia, but I doubt it is true.
“I suspect that it was spread by those who are against multi-level marketing,” he said before leaving with his five friends.
A popular online forum in China had a post claiming that 69 investors would be coming to Malaysia to demand that MBI return the money they had invested.
Meanwhile, a check at the shops in M Mall showed the merchants were still accepting LR points yesterday.
A boutique worker, who declined to be named, said she has not received any instruction from her boss not to accept LR points.
A 34-year-old household goods shop worker, who wished to be known as Lim, said the shop has not received their claim payments which they filed on May 16.
“We send in our claims to the management office twice a month, on the first day and the 16th day of every month, in order to claim back the money made via LR points transactions,” she said, adding that previous claims were settled in about a week.
She said although her boss had yet to receive claim payments from the management, the shop was still accepting LR points.
Two Malaysians were also spotted shopping together at M Galleria hypermarket with trolleys full of goods, including a trolley of 14 packets of 10kg rice.
One of them, who is in his 30s, said he read about the news of the arrest of a man, believed to be the MBI founder, and that he wanted to spend the LR points fast.