A rapidly growing wealth management industry is spurring a rise in allegations of fake family offices from Singapore to Hong Kong, forcing many in the sector to go “full CSI” to weed out imposters.
“The entry barrier is low, founders’ wealth is often private information, and it’s hard to do due diligence,” said Joe Qiao, chief investment officer of Globaltec Capital, an office for the Yeh family of Taiwan chip designer Realtek Semiconductor Corp. “There are chances for misrepresentation and scams.”