However, all were left ruing their naivety when they were saddled with losses.

One of the investors, business man Jonathan Toh claimed that he signed up after being con vinced that he would get a profit of not less than RM3,000 from three machines.

“The company had promised me that they would place the ma chines in the Johor port, where I can generate high profits. However, they placed the machine elsewhere and I did not get the promised income,” claimed Toh, who lost RM90,000 in the ven ture. Ganesan Krishnan, another in vestor, claimed that he was even threatened by the company when he asked for his RM11,066 refund.

“They had promised to place my machine at a factory in Petaling Jaya where I was supposed to be able to earn RM450 a day. In stead, they placed it near a coffee shop in Bandar Sunway.

“I then received notices from the coffee shop owner, asking me to pay for rent and water bills. I asked the company for a refund as I wasn’t happy with the arrangement.

“Instead, I received threatening phone calls from them,” he claimed, adding that he had lodged a police report on the alleged threats.

However, in the case of Khairul Annuar Aziz, from Cyberjaya, he claimed that the company turned the tables on him when he pestered them for a refund.

“When I asked for a refund, they claimed that the period had lapsed. I told them that I would lodge a police report against them but in stead, they lodged a report against me for supposedly threatening their workers.

“I’m not afraid because I know I am right. I have evidence to prove this,” claimed Khairul, who paid the company RM11,453 as a deposit.

The men lodged complaints at MCA Public Services and Complaint Department.

Department head Datuk Michael Chong said they have received 41 complaints from investors against the three water vending machine companies.

The losses, he said, totalled more than RM1 million.

Most of the investors became in volved in the schemes after re sponding to ads in newspapers or cold calls. “We have lodged reports with po lice and the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry. It will be brought to the attention of police’s commercial crime unit,” he said.

The ministry’s senior assistant dir ector, Jeevananth Paliah, said they had raided one such company in Kuala Lumpur.

If found guilty, the company could be fined up to RM250,000 and its officers jailed no more than five years under the Direct Selling Act 1993.

“As they had approved potential investors through phone calls, they could be considered direct-sellers and they don’t have licences to op erate like that.”