MANILA – How can you tell if the company or investment scheme you are putting your money in is a fraud? The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has listed the red flags of an investment scam.
SEC commission Secretary Armando Pan, Jr. advised the public to first check if the organization they are investing in and the securities the company is issuing are registered with the SEC, and that the security salesman is licensed.
“Una, dapat yung entity ay rehistrado sa SEC. Ito ay pwedeng korporasyon or partnership. Pangalawa dapat ‘yung investment contract or securities ay rehistrado din po,” he said.
“Pangatlo, yung mga nagbebenta or nagso-solicit ay lisensiyado bilang security salesman,” he added.
The list of licensed salesmen can be found on the SEC’s official website.
If the investment seems too good to be true, it probably is, the report said.
“If the promised return is 30 percent and for life, you would need a monthly amount of 15 billion a month,” Pan said. “That’s, for us, very impossible.”
The SEC issued the reminders amid the controversy surrounding the Kapa Community Ministry International Inc. (Kapa), which is allegedly involved in a fraudulent investment scheme.
In March, the SEC made permanent its cease and desist order (CDO) against Kapa to stop soliciting investments without the proper license.
On Feb. 14, the SEC issued a CDO after it found substantial evidence that Kapa offered and sold securities in the form of investment contracts and in the guise of donations, even without the necessary licenses.
The CDO was then served by the SEC on Feb. 21 at the last known address of Kapa in Bislig City in Surigao del Sur and at the residential addresses of incorporators Nonita Urbano and Junnie Apolinario.
The SEC is currently collecting testimonies of the victims who didn’t get the promised 30-percent return of investment. They are set to file complaints with the Department of Justice, the report added.
The SEC will file complaints for three violations: selling unregistered securities or investment contracts, selling these investment contracts without a license, and engaging in fraudulent activities.
Kapa’s Apolinario, however, denied that Kapa is an investment scam. (GMA News)
