Lucena scam victims threatened

LUCENA CITY—Investment scam victims here are being coerced to stop filing complaints to the police against the officials of South Luzon Multipurpose Cooperative-Grand Alliance of Business Leaders Association Inc. (SLMC-Gabai).

One of the investors said text messages had spread among the victims, warning them that whoever filed complaints would be “marked to suffer the consequences.”

Key officials of SLMC-Gabai, which is behind the investment plan, have been hiding from investors since Wednesday after the cooperative failed to give its investors the promised yields.

One of the investors, a female government employee who invested P200,000 of her savings, said that even if the leaders of SLMC-Gabai really plundered their multimillion-peso deposits, she would still heed the warning and stay away from the police.

“I will cling to even the smallest chance … to recover my money,” she said.

Supt. Allen Rae Co, Lucena City police chief, said police investigators had received the same information that the victims were being warned.

“They should not be afraid. The police are here to help the victims, to give them justice,” Co said, as he called on the victims to come out and file their complaints.

So far, two victims have filed formal complaints in the police station here against SLMC-Gabai on Friday, said Co.

Most vendor-partners of SLMC-Gabai were also left holding “worthless account receipts” after they were not paid for their merchandise, which they had sold to investors in exchange for points earned from their investments.

An investor earned what Gabai called an “account,” or a point, for every P350 investment, which the investor could use to buy a wide range of merchandise—from baby’s milk to fake watches—sold inside the group’s compound by Gabai’s vendor-partners.

Under the scheme, investors were enticed to maintain a “deposit” of at least P350 to P35,000 every day for their money to earn a weekly interest of 40 percent. Thus, a P35,000 deposit would yield P14,000 a week for as long as the principal remained with Gabai.

SLMC-Gabai insiders said the delay in payments was caused by money squabbles among officials.

Co urged the SLMC-Gabai leaders to come out and face the thousands of investors who entrusted their money to the group.

Police here have yet to tag the investment scheme as a “scam” but only as a “questionable business scheme,” said Co.

But information from the Securities and Exchange Commission showed that SLMC and Gabai, though both duly registered, were not authorized to accept direct investments or to act as an investment house, added Co.

On Saturday, some investors were still staying inside the SLMC-Gabai compound in Barangay Isabang here, hoping the payment of interest would again resume.

Despite its financial mess, SLMC-Gabai was able to put up tarpaulins at strategic spots in the compound, announcing that starting next year, the accounts or points earned from investors’ deposits could be used in the payment of electric and water bills, and the purchase of cars, motorcycles and plane tickets, among many others.