Collapsed developer Ralan’s apartment buyers said its operations reeked of a Ponzi scheme after they were pestered to “top up” their deposits or buy more apartments as recently as the day before its collapse.

Angry owners at both the Arncliffe and Ruby projects attending Ralan's first creditors meeting in Sydney on Friday - most of them local Chinese Australians and new migrants - said they received numerous phone calls from Ralan's "foot soldiers", or internal sales agents, over the past two months asking them to buy more units at both projects or contribute further equity to their purchase.