Compiled by C. ARUNO, KHOO GEK SAN and R. ARAVINTHAN
Veteran Hong Kong actress Maria Cordero (pic) is unperturbed despite being publicly ridiculed for having lost HK$50mil (RM28.31mil) speculating on tech stocks recently, reported Sin Chew Daily.
The 68-year-old revealed that she received hate mail online and also had to put up with vulgarities in public.
“I pretend that I can’t see or hear them. Why will I want to read about someone chastising me and my family?
“Even if they curse my family, does it mean all of us will die for real? They must be people who are jealous of my life,” said Cordero who has six children, 17 grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
The actress had earlier announced that she will be holding concerts in January to recoup her financial losses, despite having retired from singing in 2016.
When interviewed, she revealed that she continued to financially support her grandchildren by setting aside funds for their future education.
“I don’t think it is a burden. Where will I get the motivation if I do not do anything? I still feel energetic despite being close to 70 years old. Being able to work is a blessing. I feel amazing having a family which still relies on me,” she said.
It was earlier reported that she invested the money in a Hong Kong-based company producing lightbulbs and lost 96% of her investment.
Cordero reportedly said it was a sign that “God wants me to return to work.”
Fondly known as Fat Mama, she is largely retired from the entertainment scene but has her own online cooking show called Maria’s Kitchen.
The widow owns a mansion in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district which cost HK$200mil (RM113mil) and also grows vegetables in her spare time.
She was married to Rick da Silva for 21 years before he died due to pneumonia in 2021.
>A secondary student in Thailand’s Nonthaburi province hung himself after losing 14,000 baht (RM1,842) to online scammers, the daily also reported.
The 15-year-old left a note apologising to his family before hanging himself in the Pakkret district on Sunday.
The news shook the nation and police investigations revealed that the teenager had been lured by a scam advertisement on YouTube supposedly offering people the chance to buy products and resell them online at a higher price.
After realising that it was a scam, the student tried to get his money back but the scammers were no longer contactable.
Police investigations led to the arrest of a 33-year-old woman who served as a mule for the scammers.
She was found to have facilitated the layering of illicit funds by allowing her bank accounts to receive and transfer money for a fee.
Police urged victims to come forward to make reports so that they could stop these scammers by freezing their bank accounts.
According to statistics compiled by the Thai police, investment scams offering high returns were estimated at 2.6bil baht (RM342mil) in 2022, making up 14% of the total value of online scams.
● The above article is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with this ‘ >’sign, it denotes a separate news item.