Rise and fall of Tedy's empire, King of money games dethroned

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Entrepreneur, philanthropist, get-rich-quick ‘hero’ wanted in M’sia and China

He lorded over a mighty empire – hotels, restaurants, agro parks, housing estates with fancy theme parks, the sprawling M Mall – and even had his own digital currency Mcoin. But big man Tedy Teow has fallen hard. Caught in Thailand for money-laundering, the MBI boss now faces criminal action in three countries.

GEORGE TOWN: He once lorded over much of Penang as the “King of money games”. But how the mighty has fallen.

Tedy Teow, the founder of MBI – Mobility Beyond Imagination – can now start imagining himself being restricted in prison cells in three different countries, all of which want him for questioning over several money-laundering cases.

ALSO READ: Malaysian billionaire businessman held in Thailand

It’s a far cry from his glory days. Then, he ruled over an “Mpire” that had pretty much everything – housing development, malls, a chain of hotels, an ehailing service and even its own brand of smartphones.

Not bad for a kid who had started out selling pencils, exercise books and combs.

ALSO READ: Thailand to deport fugitive Tedy Teow

His MBI was also on top of the money game world.

It was during a time when there were plenty of get-rich-quick schemes in Penang which prom

It was during a time when there were plenty of get-rich-quick schemes in Penang which promised high returns – JJ Poor To Rich (JJPTR), Richway Global Venture, Mama Captain, and Change Your Life (CYL) – but MBI was the darling of them all.

Teow had a large following here particularly with the hawkers, self-employed professionals and ordinary folk who wanted to make a fast buck.

ALSO READ: Police apply to repatriate ex-fugitive Teow from Thai custody

“He was my hero. I made a few thousand ringgit monthly from my investment in MBI then. But eventually, I lost it all after I doubled my investment, only to see the company collapsing later on,” said hawker BK Khor, 58.

While many heaped praise on the big man, some also nearly lost their life savings when MBI was red-flagged by authorities in 2019.

A technician at a factory in Bayan Lepas free-trade zone, who wanted to be known only as James, said he learnt about the scheme through one of his friends.

“This was about four years ago. After earning a profit each month for about one year, I put in everything I had. I was lucky to break even in the end,” he said.

 

From glory to gloom: The M Mall, which was once bustling with activity (below), now stands practically abandoned along Jalan Datuk Keramat in Penang. — CHAN BOON KAI/The Star

Fast-forward to today, Teow is now in custody in Thailand and awaiting deportation after he was arrested in Songkhla last Friday. And both Malaysia and China want him in their hands.

The Malaysian police are applying for a repatriation exercise for Teow to return to the country to assist in investigations under Section 420 for cheating.

Beijing police also reportedly want him for questioning. This is after a suit filed end of last year by about 400 investors from China to recover investments worth some RM100mil.

In 2019, about 100 Chinese nationals staged a peaceful protest outside the Chinese embassy in Kuala Lumpur to complain that they had been cheated by an online pyramid scheme operated by MBI.

Coincidentally, it was in China that Teow got his “second shot at life” according to a YouTube video released in 2013.

Titled The Story of MBI International’s Boss, the video was a biography of Teow as an enterprising schoolboy in the 1970s, bringing pencils, exercise books, combs and assorted items to sell in his school. 

The video also described Teow’s view of great potential in the franchising industry, which led him to start his beverage company called “Island Red Cafe” in 2008.

The company boasted having the best and trendiest coffee culture in the country but it was actually little more than just a chain of coffee shops.

Anyone interested could invest in the company. A year later, many shareholders stopped getting their returns. And police reports were lodged.

In 2011, Teow and his son Chee Chow were sentenced to a day’s jail and fined RM160,000 after admitting to two counts of cheating and misleading investors of more than RM1mil in the Island Red Cafe scheme in 2010.

Not long after came MBI. It took Penang by storm with offers of “lucrative” returns and was big news in 2015.

Teow was then director of Mface International Bhd and MBI Marketing Sdn Bhd, two companies under the MBI group.

The company set up M Mall 020 in Jalan Datuk Keramat as its headquarters. The mall had several convenience stores which sold its own brand of body lotions, shampoo products and general trading.

Members could use digital currency called Mcoin to buy and redeem stuff from M Mall.

The company even launched its own line of MBI International smartphones then.

MBI also had a chain of hotels including one in Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah and a Chinese restaurant in Jelutong. It also operated an e-hailing service called MULA car.

MBI’s popularity skyrocketed and there was a huge development project next to the Penang International Airport called Mpire Residences being proposed. It never materialised.

The company spread its wings to Kedah with a housing project in Kulim called MBI Desaku.

Teow turned philanthropist when he set up MBI Charity 100, a social responsibility effort by MBI Group to help the poor and the needy. The objective was to hold 999 charity events each year.

But in 2017, Teow’s world came crashing down. M Mall was raided by police, while 91 bank accounts linked to MBI International were frozen. The accounts held RM177mil.

Teow would later face two charges of issuing unrecognised payment instruments. In 2018, he was fined RM2.5mil and RM3mil by Bank Negara for financial irregularities.

Last year, police said Teow and his two sons were also involved in a Macau scam totalling up to RM336mil.

Teow’s family has not been spared, too. His son was held at knifepoint after three Chinese nationals broke into the family’s house looking for him for a refund.

The intruders fled but not before dropping two fake bombs in the house.

But now, the real bombshell has fallen. Teow is under police custody. But his story has surely not ended yet. 

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M Mall in Penang where MBI investors can exchange their virtual coins is now almost deserted.

IT may seem like it was not so long ago that money-game was practically on everybody’s lips especially here in Penang,

My close friend even invested in MBI Group International which was one of the most popular investment schemes then.

At its peak, one would be considered the odd one out for not investing in the scheme.

How times have changed. Now, my friend is telling me that he has not heard from his upline for months.

It was a far cry from the time when the upline would tell him how good the scheme was, and even spell out a time frame to cash in on the investments.

Most investors have now resigned to the fact that their investments are as good as gone. They feel ashamed to lodge police reports and many just suffer in silence for fear of people teasing them.

However, their counterparts from China were less forgiving.

In October, hundreds of them staged a peaceful protest near the Chinese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. Wailing and sobbing, they urged the Chinese government to help them recover the hundreds of million ringgit they had invested in the Penang-based company.

In Penang, several groups of Chinese investors also vented their frustration at a hotel and the jetty of an island resort here, where both properties are said to be associated with the company.

The last we heard, three of them even went to the extent of dropping fake bombs at a house in Bukit Gambier out of desperation.

The house belongs to the son of MBI Group International founder Tedy Teow. Luckily, no untoward incidents took place.

Another friend of mine told me that he started believing in karma after putting faith in the money- game.

He is now convinced that what goes around, comes around. This is his story.

He put in a sum of money in BTC I-system, a scheme which claimed to invest in bitcoin digital currency.

Without even knowing how the investment works, he managed to get back his capital within two months, plus a few thousand of ringgits extra in the next few months. Then the scheme collapsed.

He then took the plunge again in another scheme. He was confident of easy money again, especially after being told he was among the first few to join the investment. He was not so lucky this time.

The profit that he got in the first investment ended up paying for the second scheme that went bust.

I have seen many people whose relationship with family members had become strained all because of these dubious schemes.

Direct Selling Association of Malaysia (DSAM) president Datuk Tan Chong Guan reminded the public that there is no free lunch in this world.

“Where there is no sales but a return is promised on investments, this is a sign that it is a money-game, or a pyramid scheme, ” he was quoted then.

If you still could not figure out or get a clear explanation on how the investment will make money, then you better opt out.

If it involves any chain-recruitment that offers commissions for bringing in new affiliates, or sophisticated or complicated investment schemes that sound too alien, then you better avoid it.

Always remember that one has to work hard to earn one’s keep.

But believe me, money-game would always re-emerge in other forms, just like the online scams as long as there is human greed.

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https://youtu.be/zzn4zLtw_p8

Smooth operation: Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism Ministry enforcement director Datuk Mohd Roslan Mahayudin (centre) giving a press conference on the raids which yielded luxury vehicles and cash. Despite the crackdown by the authorities, investors continue to patronise M Mall, which is operated by MBI.

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