SEVERAL of the 3,500 mould growers milked for a total of $78 million in one of Hong Kong's most bizarre scams guessed it was a fraud when they joined, but were sucked in by the offers of big money.
An official involved in the case said several growers admitted to him they had guessed the firm was ''dodgy'', but hoped it would last long enough for them to make a quick buck.
''It was set up by greedy people to draw in greedy people,'' the official said yesterday. ''The whole thing was just heading for a fall.'' A woman calling herself Ms Lam said she had invested $32,000 in the scheme after a friend claimed to have made $100,000 profit. Her investment bought her a culture to which milk was added to grow the mould, which she sold back to the company.
In her first month she got $5,000 - but then the company closed before she could return any more mould.
''I thought the company could last for six months when I joined, so that I could make a small return. I never imagined the company would close so soon,'' said Ms Lam, a Tsuen Wan housewife.
The company told growers the mould would be used in a Swiss cosmetics line called Series 333. But the official said yesterday that the company ''had dumped the stuff'' when investors had brought it in.
Prosecuting counsel Bernard Ryan told the High Court in February that Breckenridge's 333 cosmetics never contained any mould, and the mould had no commercial value.
