SEC warns public vs firm posing as agri goods trader
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned the public against investing in a newly established business allegedly posing as a farm goods service provider while soliciting investments from the public without the proper registration.
It also warned against individuals introducing themselves as representatives of stock brokers.
In an advisory posted last Friday, the SEC said De Guzman Consumer Goods Trading had allegedly been inviting the public to become an investor or copartner in its farming and trading business.
According to the corporate watchdog, De Guzman promised 60- to 200-percent returns if someone invested in the company for 30 to 60 days.
The SEC pointed out that this scheme counted as an investment contract, as money needed to be invested in De Guzman with expectations of profits.
However, the company first needs to be registered with the SEC before selling or offering securities to the public.
Based on the SEC’s findings, De Guzman was not registered as a corporation or partnership, and it operated without the needed license to solicit investments from the public, thus violating the Securities Regulation Code.
Under the law, violators may be fined up to P5 million or face 21 years in prison, or both.
Impersonating brokers
At the same time, the SEC also warned against people using the logos and employee and company names of COL Financial Group Inc. and Alpha Securities Corp.
In a separate advisory dated Oct. 9, the SEC said it had received reports about individuals posing as personnel or representatives of COL Financial to convince people who were previously scammed that their stolen money was “reinvested” with the broker.
“The victims were then required to pay multiple fees, such as so-called ‘tax fees,’ in order to withdraw their supposed investments,” the SEC said, adding that the scammers were using fake documents to convince the victims.
But their funds were never returned, with the supposed scammers instead keeping their imposed additional payments.
The SEC noted that COL Financial had already denied that the documents had come from them.
Alpha Securities reported a similar incident, with people posing as the company’s representatives and fooling people into shelling out money, believing they were legitimate personnel.
The victims later approached Alpha Securities about their supposed investment, but the broker later found out they were not listed as its clients.
According to the SEC, Alpha Securities had clarified that official transactions, particularly opening accounts that require clients’ personal appearance, were only conducted at its office. All deposits and payments were made exclusively with its official bank accounts, it added.
