Some of the more gullible among Filipinos easily fall for the latest pseudo-investment schemes to hit the sham market, called the task-and-recharge scheme by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has since warned the public to stay away from on pain of losing the money in their pockets.
On Wednesday the regulator issued yet another call for greater vigilance and prudence, particularly jobseekers, saying the SEC-registered Robinson Co. and America Mall-Ph were the latest iterations of a sham operation promising attractive rewards in exchange for a little effort.
The sham works by selling online jobseekers investment contracts secured by first performing a given task whose completion becomes basis for a new task whose prompt completion becomes basis for yet another task that goes on and on until one realizes that one has been had.
“An investment contract exists in tasking and recharging schemes as there is an investment or placement of money in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the efforts of others,” the regulator said when it came out warning the less sophisticated of what is going on out there where hard earned money meets the savvy confidence artist, or corporation.
According to the SEC, the scheme has the characteristics of a Ponzi scam where monies from new investors are used in paying fake profits to prior investors and structured to favor the top recruiters and prior risk takers. This is detrimental to subsequent participants as new investors grow scarce to finance the reward of those already in the sham investment, the SEC explained.
Robinson and America Mall-Ph operate their respective online platforms and have presented fake incorporation papers to make themselves appear legitimate business operators, the SEC said.
This offense, the SEC stressed, carries a P5 million fine and imprisonment of up 21 years.
“Furthermore, the names of all those involved will be reported to the Bureau of Internal Revenue so that the appropriate penalties and/or taxes be correspondingly assessed,” the SEC said.
