The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has advised the public against dealing with De Guzman Consumer Goods Trading and an individual named Christabel Arroyo due to their unauthorized solicitation of investments.
The SEC has also warned the public against engaging with individuals or groups who falsely represent themselves as part of COL Financial Group Inc, and use the name and logo of Alpha Securities Corp. without their authority. In an advisory, the SEC said it has found De Guzman Consumer to be inviting the public through Facebook to become an investor or co-partner in its farming and trading business, with a promise of potential returns of 60 percent to 200 percent within 30 to 60 days.
It is not registered as a corporation or partnership and does not have the required license to solicit investments.
Meanwhile, Christabel Arroyo was found offering investment opportunities involving bitcoin mining trading, without the required certificate of registration from the SEC. Through her Facebook account, Arroyo entices the public to invest a minimum capital of P5,000 with a promised earning of P50,000 within 24 hours.
The SEC flagged certain individuals or groups who falsely represented themselves as personnel or representatives of publicly listed stock broker COL Financial Group to scam the public.
Under the scheme, scammers impersonating current or former COL personnel told their victims that money they previously lost in other scams had been reinvested in COL.
To withdraw the supposed investments, victims were required to pay multiple fees, including so-called tax fees. However, the funds were not returned and the scammers kept imposing additional payments until the victims stopped complying.
The SEC also warned that certain individuals are using the name and logo of Alpha Securities Corp. without authority to perpetrate an investment scam.
‘According to reports, certain persons claimed to have invested with Alpha Securities Corporation by sending money, but upon verification, these individuals were never clients of the company and had not opened accounts with it,’ the SEC said.