One Dream scam: More complainants surface at DOJ

THE complaint against One Dream Global Marketing Inc., the company that allegedly duped thousands of investors of almost P3-billion is snowballing at the Department of Justice (DOJ).

On Wednesday, victims from Quezon City trooped to the DOJ and filed a complaint for syndicated estafa.

Christian Salazar and his wife Alma said One Dream’s president and chief executive officer Arnel Gacer, and Vice president Jobelle de Guzman took away about P12.7 million worth of investments from his group of 300 investors.

Salazar said he first invested P13,000 in One Dream. From there, Alma said they would roll over their earnings. They said they helped others interested in investing.

“Nakapag-engganyo ng mga iba ko pang kasamahan at kami ay nakaipon ng mahigit kumulang P12.7 million na ininvest namin sa One Dream,” the investor told reporters in an interview.

The couple said everything went well until the company closes last July 11 and its officers were nowhere to be found.

Under the scheme a “pay-in” of P888, which is equivalent to pen slot, will result in an “exit” or “pay-out” of P1,300 after four days.

Additionally, the company offered a P44 per slot as commission for every direct referral.

The DOJ Action Center said they would refer the complainants to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Last Tuesday, several victims of One Dream had lodged syndicated estafa complaint against Gacer, Jobelle and other officers identified as Ariel Gacer, Richard Ramos, Jay-ar de Guzman, Marlon de Guzman, Judith Itoh, Jun de Guzman, Lui de Guzman, Linda de Guzman and Joel de Guzman.

The complaint, which was said to be the first batch of cases to be filed before the DOJ in relation to the One Dream Global investment scam, was filed by 18 people.

“The acts of Gacer and the other respondents – the distribution of flyers, the spread of several hard copies of the profit making scheme, the act of telling ‘rags to riches’ stories, the absolute guarantee that it will only take four days to profit, the continuous assurance that our hard-earned money will undoubtedly earn profits – are clear indications of deceit and false pretenses and fraudulent acts executed prior to and simultaneous with the commission of frauds,” the complaint stated.

Based on the complaint, One Dream’s operation and recruitment of prospective investors were administered using the system of profit scheme.

The complainants said that Gacer and the other officers of One Dream had claimed that there were thousands of people who already profited from the scheme.

“Buoyed by our natural desire to similarly profit from such scheme and because of the company’s continuous assurance and pretensions that we will indeed profit, we placed various sums of money with the company and obtained several referrals,” the complainants claimed.

They added that they were convinced to invest in the profit scheme after One Dream showed them rags-to-riches stories of their investors.

But, the complainants said they were surprised when One Dream stopped its operation last July 11 following various complaints concerning the company’s failure to give the investing public the promised payout.

Furthermore, the complaint pointed out that One Dream has no permit to engage in selling and marketing investment products.

The complaint said based on its Articles of Incorporation, One Dream primary purpose is trading, buying and selling of various goods.