File photo of Police Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre
INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines — The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) on Thursday reminded the public to not fall for investment scams following the arrest of a Filipino fugitive with multiple warrants of arrest for estafa and syndicated estafa.
CIDG Acting Brig. General Nicolas Torre III warned that if investment schemes’ promises are too good to be true, they are most likely to be scam.
“To our fellow citizens, if the money that is promised to return to you monthly exceeds 15 to 20 percent, start contemplating,” Torre said in Filipino during a press briefing.
“Especially when these scammers say that you should give them money and it will grow by 15 to 20 percent or double your money in five months… or anything similar,” Torre added in Filipino.
Torre also noted that some tactics appear to be legitimate to encourage victims from investing their money in these schemes.
READ: Filipino investment scam suspect deported from Indonesia
“They will say that they are legitimate, they have SEC registration. Your investment will have receipts, you will be issued a check that you can encash in the future. If that is the modus operandi, start contemplating,” he stated in Filipino.
This came after Hector Aldwin Pantollana was deported after being arrested in Indonesia. He was accused of scamming several persons of hundreds of millions of pesos.
The SEC previously filed a criminal complaint against him and other individuals of casino junket operations for violating the Securities Regulation Code and the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Further, one of Pantollana’s victims shared that they were encouraged to join the investment scheme because it seemed legitimate at first.
READ: The inner workings of an online investment scam
“If we see that they have visitors that we look up to, we think as ordinary citizens that they won’t be negligent. We think that they will not invest if they do not have due diligence,” the victim, who refused to be named, said in Filipino during an ambush interview.