SEC warns borrowers vs lending app scams

A high-ranking official from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the weekend issued a warning about a supposed proliferation of fraudulent online lending apps, cautioning the public about red flags that they should watch out for when borrowing funds.

Kenneth Joy Quimio, the officer in charge director of the SEC’s financing and lending companies department said that scammers are posting as legitimate firms by using the list of registered companies and their licenses available at their website.

“These scammers are using those to pretend that they are these companies, when in fact, they are not,” Quimio said in an interview during the Department of Trade and Industry’s Saturday radio morning program.

Asked what the public can do to protect themselves from these scammers, the SEC official gave a few tips.

“Many or most scammers do not have a physical office. If they only have virtual offices then they cannot be visited. Don’t transact with them. Choose the ones that have offices that can be visited,” she said.

Means of contact

She said that it is also important to consider whether or not the contact number and email addresses in the apps or website of these online lending companies can be contacted or not.

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“If the phone numbers that were declared to us do not answer calls, do not borrow from them because, most likely, if there are problems, it won’t be entertained,” Quimio said.

The SEC official said there are around 4,700 registered financing and lending companies in the Philippines today, with 170 having their own online lending apps.

Quimio said they have issued cease and desist orders to around 81 companies for violating regulatory requirements, which includes, among others, providing contact details and establishing physical offices.