MANILA, Philippines — People are always looking for new business opportunities to venture into.
And in the age of social media and the internet, more and more people are turning toward investing into a solid business they could earn a lot of profit from. But a word of caution.
The Securities and Exchanges Commission recently issued a warning against the public investing in an offer made by the company Lokal Plate Corporation (also known as LOKALPLATE) for a franchise opportunity.
The company has been posting on its website and social media accounts about becoming a franchisee of their delivery service with the partner merchants featured on its online marketplace. The posts ask for anywhere between P9,888 to P12,888 and urge potential investors to sign up for a limited time offer for limited slots available.
On an official memo posted by the SEC, the document shows how Lokal Plate franchisees earn their commission from the business, stating that “……a franchisee only needs to share a link, which, when clicked by anyone who wants to order from the affiliated food service provider of Lokalplate, the franchisee earns 15% to 20% of the purchase price of the ordered food. A franchisee able to recruit another prospect also earns a commission of P3,00.00 for every direct referral.
Considering that the scheme involves the sale of securities to the public in the form of investment contracts, the Securities Regulation Code (SRC) requires that these securities be duly registered and that the concerned corporation and/or its agents have appropriate registration and/or license to sell such securities to the public pursuant to Section 8and 28of the SRC.”
Lokal Plate is not registered nor legally allowed to offer any kind of investment scheme or to solicit under a guise of franchising, according to the SEC.
The public is warned against falling for such schemes that are unauthorized as those found to be involved can be found guilt and penalized. The SEC states the consequences of those who “act as salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents or claim to act as such for LOKAL.PLATE CORPORATION in selling or convincing people to invest in the investment scheme being offered by said entity including solicitations and recruitment through the internet may be prosecuted and held criminally liable under Section 28 of the SRC and penalized with a maximum fine of Five Million pesos (P5,000,000.00) or penalty of Twenty-one (21) years of imprisonment or both pursuant to Section 73 of the SRC.
Also, those who invite or recruit others to join or invest in such venture or offer investment contracts or securities to the public may incur criminally liability, or otherwise be sanctioned or penalized accordingly.