The Securities and Exchange Commission has warned against investing in Trade City-Mall which uses an online platform in a purported job offer but operates more like a Ponzi scheme.
The SEC said the company uses the task-and-recharge scheme by which it entices the public to a supposed online job.
Once this completes, the public is asked to communicate with one Rebeka Clarah, an assistant manager at Trade City Mall, for the gathering of personal information.
For a certain amount of money, the public is asked to perform a level 1 or VIP 1 task and required to grab three orders in their platform in exchange for monetary rewards that they call a commission, the agency said.
With the VIP 1 task completed and upon withdrawal of the monetary reward, the investor is asked to recharge and upgrade to VIP 2 where one is set to perform another task of executing five orders in exchange for a commission equivalent to 30 percent of every order. Upgrading to VIP 3 requires completing seven orders at a higher cost of recharge.
After accomplishing all the assigned tasks, the investor is told the promised commission requires paying a certain amount of tax.
The SEC said the company convinces investors by presenting a fake certificate of registration authorized to seek investments from the public.
“The public is hereby advised to exercise caution in dealing with any individual or group of persons soliciting investments for and on behalf of Trade City-Mall. The public is further advised not to invest or to stop investing in the investment scheme being offered by the subject entity or its representatives,” the SEC said.
