Which is scarier, losing a huge amount of your money to a bad investment or being one of the people responsible for that investment and facing hundreds of enraged investors?
Hundreds of people in Sidoarjo, East Java, have been fighting to get their money back on their investments with property developer PT Sipoa Regal Legacy Land. The customers had invested in two of Sipoa’s residential properties, both of which were scheduled to have been completed this year but have failed to materialize.
“They promised it would be completed in 2017, but until now the physical form of the buildings do not even exist, even the foundation hasn’t been laid,” one customer, Adi Mulya, told Detik yesterday.
According to CNN Indonesia, 71 of the investors came together to file a fraud report against the company with the East Java police after construction on the projects had yet to begin. Despite repeated attempts, the news network was unable to get a response from Sipoa’s management regarding the fraud claims.
Hundreds of investors descended on the property developer’s office in Waru, Sidoarjo, yesterday morning to get answers about their refunds, but, as you can see from the video, the staff and security at the office were overwhelmed by the angry customers demanding their money back immediately.
According to Detik, at one point one of the company’s managers attempted to leave the office but was quickly accosted by the upset investors who shouted for others to close the door so that he couldn’t leave. Despite being escorted by bodyguards, the manager was unable to leave… until he pulled out a gun and pointed it at the crowd.
“His hand came out of his pocket while pointing a gun at my stomach and then he spun the gun around and pointed it at my friend’s neck,” said another customers, Fandi Hongdoyo.
Last year, travel agency First Travel also earned infamy over suspicions that the company’s owners had robbed 58,682 customers who had paid for discounted umrah pilgrimage travel packages using a Ponzi scheme.
