Looi Kam Yong, GCG Asia and the Unfolding Controversy Behind a Johor Mining Venture

21 September 2026 — Looi Kam Yong emerging as a new kingpin in organized commercial crime, a RM127 million seizure, a bauxite “megaproject” the Johor government says never existed, and the company filings that tie them together

KUALA LUMPUR — New facts emerge, to a seemingly closed case dating back to 2022; the GCG Asia Forex Scam. [1] A new individual emerges central to the facts gathered by authorities; Looi Kam Yong, and his operation of The One Minerals Mining Sdn Bhd. At the outset the operations seem nothing out of the ordinary, but Companies House (SSM) data reveal quite another story with E Law Review shedding a legal tussle between those named in the GCG Scam and Looi Kam Yong. What is key to the narrative, is a RM 150 million funnel of money into a company with no bauxite project approval, and a kingpin (Looi Kam Yong) alleged to have defrauded the shareholders of their money for a non-existent project.

A Recap of 2022

On the first morning of 2022, Bukit Aman’s Commercial Crime Investigation Department detained 10 suspects across five states and seized nine luxury vehicles, 64 watches and five kilograms of gold ingots, worth almost RM127 million [1]. Against that haul the fraud file looked thin: 23 cases under investigation, losses of RM2.9 million [1] — about one ringgit lost for every 44 seized.

That ratio is the central puzzle of GCG Asia, a purported foreign-exchange trading house whose founder, Yaw Foo Hoe — marketed as “Dato’ Sri Darren Yaw” — had already been convicted of attempted fraud in Cambodia two years earlier [2][3]. Company filings now point to where some of the people went next.

Key points

• GCG Asia promised 12–14% weekly returns, which compound to more than 30,000% a year [1]
• Its founder was convicted in Cambodia in October 2019 after the scheme falsely claimed the prime minister’s endorsement [2][3]
• Malaysian police seized about RM127 million against RM2.9 million in reported losses [1]
• Company records list Yaw Choon Kit, Yaw Foo Hoe and Looi Kam Yong as shareholders of a mining firm whose claims of state and royal backing were publicly contradicted [4][5]
• Legal records show Looi Kam Yong defending several cases from other shareholders evidencing a RM 150 million criminal breach of trust.

The Machine

GCG Asia solicited money on the promise of returns from forex, cryptocurrency, precious metal and energy trading [6]. Police said the syndicate had operated since 2018, with suspects acting as brokers, investor-search agents, financial managers and account holders [1]. Investors received a link and a password and watched profit accrue on a dashboard, but could not withdraw it; once enough had been collected, the operators cut communication [7]. The company held no valid broker licence anywhere it operated [8]. The returns existed only as pixels.

Phnom Penh: the borrowed prime minister

Cambodia’s national police chief said GCG Asia was not registered with the National Bank or relevant ministries and had already cheated investors in Malaysia and Indonesia [9]. Its website advertised that the prime minister and the central bank chairman would open its Phnom Penh headquarters, and used Hun Sen’s photographs as promotional material [10]. Hun Sen denied it publicly, and the Indonesian embassy described the firm as blacklisted [3][9]. Authorities shut the office and arrested Yaw; a court charged him with fraud attempt on 19 May 2019 [3]. He was convicted that October, sentenced to one year with five months suspended, and released around mid-2020 [2].

Return and reload

Through 2021 Yaw ran a reputation-laundering campaign: paid releases recast GCG Asia as an electric-vehicle firm, an anti-fraud commission, a green developer and a Singapore ed-tech start-up [12][2]. In September 2021 a paid announcement in the Bangkok Post introduced “John Darren Yaw” as chief executive of GCG Asia Advertising [13]. In December he filed takedown complaints against 22 domains carrying critical coverage [14]. Weeks later he was in police custody [7].

Looi Kam Yong and the Mining Connection

Company records searched by the author list Yaw Choon Kit, Yaw Foo Hoe and Looi Kam Yong as shareholders of The One Minerals Mining Sdn Bhd (TOMM), incorporated in Selangor on 3 August 2016 [4]. In August 2019, while Yaw was in Cambodian detention, TOMM and a Hong Kong investment firm announced a US$350 million bauxite project on 2,833 hectares of Felda land in Kota Tinggi, Johor, with an approved environmental impact assessment in hand [5].

There was no such project. The Johor state government said checks with the Environment Department confirmed no approval had been given to any private firm, no EIA report was on file, and the Kota Tinggi District Council had received no application to mine bauxite in the area [5]. In March 2021 paid releases syndicated to Nasdaq and Newswire nonetheless claimed Felda land concessions and named the Sultan of Johor a special advisor to the project [15][16]. No affiliation between the project and the Johor palace has ever been substantiated.

Looi Kam Yong’s Operation

TOMM is a registered Selangor company; its 2019 and 2021 publicity claimed state, federal and royal endorsement; the Johor government contradicted the 2019 claims; and the 2021 claims moved through the same paid-wire channels Yaw used for GCG Asia.

As per account filings and documentary evidence, GCG Asia investor funds flowed into TOMM, the same company that the Johor palace never confirmed on record with, Looi Kam Yong being a center to convert money from GCG Asia into machinery and mining assets for the group. A specific list of accounts of GCG Asia’s accounts were reported by ScamReview;

Looi Kam Yong voluntarily engaged in GCG’s money laundering operation by first billing for offroad machinery to a GCG linked company and receiving money from a money mule for a different product, the invoices cross RM 200 million, and funds are traced back to companies that sold non-existent machinery, and offered kickbacks to accounts that showed inflated losses, for a business that never commenced.

Why it matters

Four patterns recur. The returns were displayed, not paid, so recruitment rather than trading funded the scheme. The move from Indonesia to Cambodia to Malaysia exploited gaps between enforcement regimes; no cross-border freeze followed the conviction. Borrowed authority — a title, a prime minister, a sultan — reaches a far larger pool of victims, as Malaysian research on Ponzi prevention found [17], and under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 police may seize on reasonable suspicion, a lower bar than proving each victim’s loss [18] — so RM127 million may reflect victims who never came forward.

All named individuals are presumed innocent of any charge not adjudicated by a court.

References

1. Bernama. (2022, January 5). ‘Datuk’ among 10 individuals arrested over bogus forex investment scheme. The Borneo Post. https://www.theborneopost.com/2022/01/05/datuk-among-10-individuals-arrested-over-bogus-forex-investment-scheme/
2. BehindMLM. (2022, January 1). Darren Yaw tries to hide GCG Asia Ponzi via DMCA takedowns. https://behindmlm.com/dmca-wall-of-shame/darren-yaw-tries-to-hide-gcg-asia-ponzi-via-dmca-takedowns/
3. Xinhua. (2019, May 19). Cambodia charges GCG ASIA’s CEO with “fraud attempt” for linking PM to unlicensed cryptocurrency business. Xinhuanet. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-05/19/c_138071582.htm
4. Experian Malaysia. (n.d.). The One Minerals Mining Sdn. Bhd.: Company and business report. Retrieved September 20, 2026, from https://buy.experian.com.my/index.php/search/Malaysia-Company/1196871/THE-ONE-MINERALS-MINING-SDN-BHD
5. Bernama. (2019, August 16). No bauxite mining megaproject in Kota Tinggi, says Johor gov’t. Malaysiakini. https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/488227
6. Oz. (2019, April 26). Guardian Capital AG review: Malaysian trading Ponzi scheme. BehindMLM. https://behindmlm.com/mlm-reviews/guardian-capital-ag-review-malaysian-trading-ponzi-scheme/
7. BehindMLM. (2022, September 17). Darren Yaw and nine GCG Asia scammers arrested in Malaysia. https://behindmlm.com/companies/darren-yaw-nine-gcg-asia-scammers-arrested-in-malaysia/
8. Khmer Times. (2019, May). GCG Asia: Wife released on bail, husband remained detained. https://www.khmertimeskh.com/606669/gcg-asia-wife-released-on-bail-husband-remained-detained/
9. Cambodia Expats Online. (2019, May 17). Malaysia-owned company GCG Asia shut down for fraud investigation. https://cambodiaexpatsonline.com/business-and-finance/malaysia-owned-company-gcg-asia-shut-down-for-fraud-investigation-t28976.html
10. GCG Asia Cheater. (2019, May 17). GCG Asia official website updated and using the photos of Prime Minister Hun Sen. https://gcgasiacheater.home.blog/page/5/
11. Xinhua. (2019, May 19). [Report on the closure of GCG Asia and the arrest of Yaw Foo Hoe]. China.org.cn. http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2019-05/19/content_74800412.htm
12. Scams.Army. (2022, September 22). Beware of Darren Yaw and GCG Asia: Review part 2. https://scams.army/2022/09/22/beware-of-darren-yaw-gcg-asia-review-part-2/
13. GCG Asia Advertising. (2021, September). GCG Asia Advertising appoints John Darren Yaw as CEO to lead expansion into US through ad-tech acquisitions [Paid press release]. Bangkok Post. https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/pr/2172227/gcg-asia-advertising-appoints-john-darren-yaw-as-ceo-to-lead-expansion-into-us-through-ad-tech-acquisitions
14. PonziExposed. (2022, July 27). Scam review: GCG Asia. https://ponziexposed.com/2022/07/27/scam-review-gcg-asia/
15. Newsfile Corp. (2021, March 4). The One Minerals Mining owner Looi Kam Yong announces DYMM Sultan Ibrahim of Johor as advisor to mining project [Press release]. Nasdaq. https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/the-one-minerals-mining-owner-looi-kam-yong-announces-dymm-sultan-ibrahim-of-johor-as
16. The One Minerals Mining Sdn Bhd. (2021, March 22). Federal government visits Looi Kam Yong’s proposed mining project land in Pengerang, Kota Tinggi, Johor Darul Takzim [Press release]. Newswire. https://www.newswire.com/news/federal-government-visits-looi-kam-yongs-proposed-mining-project-land-21343055
17. Kasim, E. S., Md Zina, N., Mohd Padil, H., & Omar, N. (2020). Ponzi schemes and its prevention: Insights from Malaysia. Management & Accounting Review, 19(3), 89–118. https://doi.org/10.24191/mar.v19i03-05
18. Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001 (Act 613) (Malaysia).