Here are the Top 10 biggest scams in the Philippines
These biggest scams in the Philippines made many Filipinos believe that they could easily have a better life but things turned out not as they expected.
Based on the article from topten.ph, here are the scams that enticed thousands of Pinoys who aspired to improve their financial status in just a short period of time.
#10 Bancap Scam
Marilyn Nite, president of Bank Capital Development Corp., was engaged in selling treasury bills. This already happened several times and many banks and investors were hooked to this her trap. It is because Bancap T-bills offered 12% higher rates than those from other investment sources. When this scam was revealed, reportedly, Nite already got P2.5 billion.
#9 One Team Global Marketing Inc.
People behind this scheme promised Filipinos that their investment of P888 was supposed to get a payout of P1,300 in just 4 days. Approximately 20,000 Filipinos decided to try their luck in this networking firm because of the low amount it required in order to join. Investors got disappointed that nothing returned to them from their investments. It turned out that was a P3 billion scam.
#8 12DailyPro
In 2005, this autosurf program started. According to its overview, members will get 12% daily return on their invested funds for 12 days. They just have to run a program to automatically view certain websites and supposedly create advertising revenue. After a year, the 12DP was no longer able to cope up with its maturing investments. Eventually, it faced its downfall but the owner took away $500 million from the investors.
#7 FrancSwiss
It caught the attention of many investors in 2007 because of its high-yielding investment products producing 4–5% income per day. However, this also faced its downfall and a month before it closed, warnings have been released on media for people not to invest in the said scam. According to the article, the scammers got P1 billion.
#6 Royal Manchester Five (RMF)
They promised their investors a 4% yield per month, with a minimum investment of P200,000. However, the currency trading scheme turned out to be bogus and led to P2 billion loss. Many celebrities and politicians also became a victim of this.
#5 Tibayan Group Investment Corp.
This scam focused on mutual fund investment scam with the offer of 3%–5% a month for a 6-month to a 1-year lock-in period. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) discovered several violations to the Investment Company Act and Securities Regulation Code. The company was penalized. Allegedly, the company falsified documents and sold unregistered securities in the market.
#4 Mateo Management Group
This was run by couple Ervin and Evelyn Mateo. They convinced at least 20 people to invest in their company with the promise of receiving a much higher amount. However, the checks that the couple gave to the investors were not honored because it was already a closed account. MMG got P5 million from the investors.
#3 Performance Investment Products Corporation (PIPC)
In 2007, this online forex trading service surfaced with the promise to investors of 10–15% return. Though it was not identified as a pyramid scam, their system crumbled. It led to P11 billion loss and allegedly its Singaporean owner took away a big portion of the said amount.
#2 Aman Futures Group
This group was able to convince over 15,000 investors across Visayas and Mindanao in 2012. The pyramid scheme concentrated on commodities trading investments with 80% return in just 20 days. The founder of this group, Manuel Amalilio was caught in Malaysia and he pleaded guilty of his crime. He was sentenced to imprisonment for two years.
#1 Legacy Group of Companies
In 2008, Celso de los Angeles masterminded the Legacy insurance and pension scam and promised the “double your money” scheme to the investors. It turned out that this was one of the biggest scams in the Philippines. In the same year, the pyramid collapsed leading to P30 billion loss. Angeles was jailed for syndicated estafa and in 2012, he died due to cancer, based on the article.