Disclaimer: In Real Life is a platform for everyday people to share their experiences and voices. All articles are personal stories and do not necessarily echo In Real Life’s sentiments.
This story was shared by a senior citizen who lost her retirement savings to a dubious investment platform after it converted them all into its own crypto token called TFX, which then crashed.
My story is not the usual sad story of how one day I discovered my bank account was empty. However, I feel it’s important to share this story as it could have happened to anyone.
I had saved up nearly RM500,000 by retirement age
5 years ago, I retired from my job at a Malaysian bank which I’d held for over 30 years. While my paycheck was a humble sum, I had been diligent in my savings from my early 20s.
Over the years, I’d managed to accumulate a little under RM500,000 for my retirement. I was proud of the amount I’d saved since I come from a lower income background.
That being said, I always had the intention of growing my retirement fund.
Although the amount would have served me well in a small town, I was now living in the city with my adult kids and their young children.
I wanted to be the grandmother that takes them out and showers them with gifts, rather than having to depend on my kids for an allowance in my old age.
I was approached by a family member with an investment opportunity
3 years into my retirement, I thought I had found the perfect opportunity.
My younger cousin had approached me, talking of this investment that he has been doing. It was a form of Forex (foreign exchange) where brokers would trade on gold, silver, and other global currencies.
He told me he had been getting returns of 7% on average each month. This rate of return was unheard of!
Of course I had my doubts. So before I made the plunge, I did as much research as I could on my own.
I read widely about Forex’s reputation for high risk, high reward and how to spot a Forex scam. I even attended many virtual meetings held by the investment company, located in Cyprus and the UK.
I started with a small investment as I had my doubts
A 7% return had me both excited and scared, but I saw the returns that my cousin was getting and I couldn’t deny that it looked good. It was 7% monthly, and in 10 cycles (about a year) I would gain around 70% return.
I decided to take the plunge and invest the minimum amount, which was USD 1000. At that time, with the exchange rate it was about RM4200.
Within one cycle, I saw my return come back into the account, and I got around USD 70. I tried to withdraw the money, and it took a few working days, but it arrived in my bank account, minus the service charges.
I was amazed, and I started to get excited.
To avoid giving in to greed, I told myself I wouldn’t invest any more money for another 7 months. I would only grow my investment through the initial amount.
As the returns started coming in from that initial investment, I would either withdraw them in certain months, or compound them, making my returns even higher.
In those months, I would often treat my family to lavish dinners and gifts, as I was getting generous returns in USD.
After 7 months, I put in USD 20,000 in my Triumph account
After the first 7 months, my returns were steady and I felt more confident in this, so I decided to add more money into that account. Over the span of the next couple of months I would add in an additional RM300,000.
It started with USD 20,000, and when I saw the returns plus the compound interest, I confidently added up to RM300K.
I never withdrew most of the money that I earned from it, as I wanted the compound rate to grow.
Every month, I would reinvest the earnings back into the selected fund, and watch as the numbers on my screen grow. It was exhilarating and exciting.
My husband and I were already planning the world trip we would take in 2024, aligning with a stopover in Paris for the Olympic Games.
I was adamant to earn as much before that so we could enjoy ourselves without financial worry. I felt we deserved that after working hard for more than 30 years.
Triumph froze all withdrawals while they changed everything to cryptocurrency
One day, in December 2022, Triumph FX announced that they were going to change to a new system in a month. They were switching to cryptocurrency.
Not only was there no heads up for us investors, but they also froze all withdrawals until the new system was in place.
This meant that those of us who were unsure of the new cryptocurrency system could not take our money out.
I asked my cousin about it, as he had substantial money in the fund. He assured me it was a positive change as the world was changing to a crypto world, and this was the future of investment.
If I’m honest, I am not very tech savvy. I grew up in a different era, and I never fully understood cryptocurrency. I still don’t.
At this point, there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t withdraw anything, but I could still access the account and it showed that all the money was still there, making new trades each week.
It all changed in December when too many investors pulled out
Image: Excerpt from a Jan 2024 review of how Triumph FX lost all value after converting real money into their own cryptocurrency called TFX coin.
When December came, and the new Triumph coin system was introduced, my whole world fell apart.
At its launch, there was an unexplained massive correction to its price, which dropped from 1.00 USD to 0.60 USD in 24 hours. Many investors panicked and sold their TFX holdings, which triggered a domino effect: The more investors pulled out, the lower the price dropped.
When I checked the price the morning after, I was shocked to discover that each coin was now only valued at USD 0.20. My investment was now worth 20% of its original value.
If I were to withdraw it, it would be worth RM60,000, down from RM300,000.
I tried to understand the new system, and see what could be salvaged. Among the others that were doing this investment, there were those who had advised to wait till the price of the coins increased.
“There are too many coins in the market,” they said, “Just be patient and it will slowly increase again.”
However, things went from bad to worse. Within a few months, the price of each coin dropped even more, as more investors were pulling out, and the coins became cheaper. Now my investment was worth even less.
By this time, I had lost all hope. I waved goodbye to the world trip I had planned.
All I’m left with is anger
There’s nothing much left of my investment, and I’ve given up. Now I’m filled with anger, at Triumph, at cryptocurrencies, and at myself – for making the decision to put in more than half of my entire retirement savings.
I still spend my days wondering how I could have lost so much money in such a short amount of time. Now, I’m left with less than RM150,000.
I know this won’t get me far in this day and age. In a hard to swallow truth, it seems like I would have to depend on my kids after all as I get older.
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To find out more about Triumph FX’s crypto disaster, read this review from 8th January 2024 and this article detailing its history from as far back as 2015. This article was first published on In Real Life M’sia on 10 Jan 2024.
Read also: How I Got Laid Off Twice and How It Influenced My Personal Finances
How I Got Laid Off Twice & How It Influenced My Personal Finances
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