It was an interesting morning today, when a friend told me that his brother received a job offer in a Forex trading company in Shah Alam. It was great news that he was able to get something after searching for opportunities for quite a while. However since my niece experienced this more than once, I am skeptical about such companies in Malaysia.
I asked him to check with the Securities Commission and whether or not the company presented an offer letter to his brother.
At first I thought that Forex is administered by the Securities Commission (SC) but I was wrong. When called, SC said that Forex is administered by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM).
BNM Foreign Exchange Administration said:
In Malaysia no company or individuals are given license to do forex trading except for registered merchant banks
Which corresponds to this List of Authorised Dealers of Foreign Currency. One thing that disappoints me the most is that BNM did not ask the company name, showing that they have no immediate interest in closing such fraudulent businesses.
Signs that a company might be working on something fraudulent:
- They don’t really have a proper business sign at their office
- They ask candidates to go to training first, before they provide an offer letter
- They have options whether the employee would like to be paid based on commission or on a fixed rate
It is a great thing that my friend’s brother told him about it. My unfortunate niece did not share the news with me so she ended up wasting weeks without getting paid. And imagine if the office is raided by the authorities. I wouldn’t want to be a part of that, would you?
So the lesson to learn here is that you should always tell someone about your opportunities, and never immediately trust just any company no matter how desperate you are for a job.
And of course, always get an offer letter first before you start working. This is the most important thing of all, when getting a new job.