Scam.

Your friend is going to lose half of the US$40k to these "investors"?

That's just crazy and does not even make any sense.

Tell her to go to a bank in Hong Kong and buy a bank draft with that US$40K. Bring back that bank draft, open a bank account, and deposit it there. Or if she already have a bank account here, just TT it.

But of course, doing it that way, there's no stupid people investor's money to profit from.

PS: A special "Tax Redemption Letter" that costs RM30-40k? I'm tempted to say, whoever believes that deserves to lose their money.