Alleged immigrant scam nets $30 million

Alleged immigrant scam nets $30 million
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Big News Network.com Sunday 19th February, 2006 (UPI)

A woman and two associates have been charged with operating a pyramid
scheme and 11 counts of mail fraud in bilking $30 million from
Cambodian refugees.

Seng Tan, a native of Cambodia, allegedly roped in some 400 former
Cambodians living in California to Massachusetts to invest on what she
called the ground floor of an Amway-type of business called Worldwide
Marketing Direct Selling, Inc., a vitamin and beauty-aid supplier, the
Boston Globe reported Sunday.

Tan allegedly told one of the original investors in 2000 that if they
paid $26,347.86, the company would return a $2,497 bonus, then $300 a
month for life, and for the lives of the investor's two children as
well as the lease of a car.

Some of the investors refinanced their homes and cashed out retirement
savings to invest, the newspaper said. Although some investors got
checks of $5,500 a month, many have lost the money invested and are
stuck with larger homes and more expensive cars for which they cannot
pay, the Globe said.

.

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