Investors lose money as Singaporean owner of trading firm disappears
July 23, 2007
Following the demise of the FrancSwiss online "investment" program, more Filipino investors appeared to have lost millions of investment funds when the Singaporean owner of a trading firm operating in the Philippines allegedly ran away with all the company's money.
You made money in FrancSwiss? You’re not yet off the hook
July 18, 2007
Now, the serious stuff.
By now, we know that the police are hunting down the owners and operators of online investment scams such as FrancSwiss, and the Philippine Daily Inquirer's Money Smarts blog recently mentioned that recruiters who marketed Ponzi programs are not spared.
So if you were a mere investor who made money in FrancSwiss (or all these other online Ponzi scams), you have nothing to worry about, right?
Think again. The government can run after your profits, under the country's Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Profits from the FrancSwiss scam are taxable
July 13, 2007
First, the funny side of all this FrancSwiss hullabaloo.
If you invested in FrancSwiss (and this goes for other online investment scams and HYIPs or High-Yield Investment Programs), all profits you earned are — surprise! — taxable.
POEA warns UK job applicants vs. new internet scam
July 12, 2007
The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) advised Filipinos intending to apply for a job position in the United Kingdom to be wary of online offers that can supposedly send them to UK using only a student visa.
POEA reported that the modus operandi of scammers is to send an email to UK job applicants with an invitation to meet in Makati for a "face-to-face" interview. Those who "passed" the interview will then be asked to pay US$625 as processing or consultancy fee.
In exchange for a supposedly guaranteed 2-year multiple entry student visa, the applicant will also need to pay 2,750 pounds. They are also given a chance to pay only 750 pounds, with the balance payable once they have found a job in the UK.
More info about this modus operandi from GMANews.tv.
‘Manila Times’ columnist quotes PMT on FrancSwiss
July 12, 2007
Marit Stinus-Remonde, "Mission Impossible" columnist of the newspaper The Manila Times, quoted Pinoy Money Talk in a column she wrote on July 10 about the FrancSwiss scam.
Ms. Stinus-Remonde wrote:
"Is Francswiss a scam?" www.pinoymoneytalk.com asks in a June 22 posting, and answers "Not yet, but it will be. Soon. Trust us. We've been there and done that." And that's the point. We've seen pyramid scams before. We've seen the victims who lost their lifetime savings, entire families losing everything, including money that they had borrowed. Investors know that there is no way that a legitimate business can make the 4.5-percent daily interest that Francswiss promised. Yet, the "company" raised more than P300 million. Even if the NBI will be able to arrest and file charges against those behind Francswiss, the investors whose investments were used to pay the profits of the earlier investors, are unlikely to get their money back. It probably isn't any consolation to them, but at least they didn’t make money at the expense of others. A pyramid investment scheme is robbery, plain and simple.
Thank you for quoting us, but we hope the site URL in the column's first paragraph be rectified. Our site is www.pinoymoneytalk.com and NOT www.phinoymoneytalk.com.
Read the entire column piece here: Francswiss and marriage scams
NBI Press Release on FrancSwiss
July 12, 2007
Following the arrest of Eleazar Castillo, alleged "chief financial adviser" of the online high-yield investment program (HYIP) FrancSwiss, the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) released on July 6 a press release explaining the details of the arrest.
The NBI accused Castillo and nine others, including an American and two Singaporean nationals, of involvement in a large-scale online investment fraud. The arrest stemmed from complaints filed by three Filipino investors against the suspects. Charges of syndicated estafa have been filed against the latter by the NBI.
Full text of the NBI press release after the jump.
How to lose money online in 7 easy steps
July 11, 2007
Do you intend to be scammed and lose money online? Read on because we have prepared a list of seven easy steps that you can follow to surely lose your hard-earned money to scammers on the internet.
Invest in this company!
July 10, 2007
Looking for a good investment opportunity that can earn huge returns for your money?
Try McWhortle Enterprises, an "established and well-known manufacturer of biological defense mechanisms" whose Defense Systems are routinely used by Fortune 500 companies to "protect their far-flung executives living in dangerous areas."
McWhortle has always been a closely held private corporation. But for a limited time, it is offering "a small number of prudent, thoughtful people the chance of a lifetime" to invest in the stock following the launch of its popular, high-technology product, Bio-Hazard Detector.
McWhortle assures investors a triple return on their investment.
Did you lose money in FrancSwiss?
July 8, 2007
Earlier last week, a news reporter from a major TV channel emailed Pinoy Money Talk and asked if we can recommend people who would be willing to sit for an interview to talk about their losses in the online investment program FrancSwiss.
Our reply, at that time, was that it might be difficult to find those people because FrancSwiss is technically still not a scam because it has not stopped paying yet. Our opinion was that investors would not badmouth a program they think has not done anything wrong.
Fast forward several days later, and FrancSwiss was declared a Ponzi and a scam-waiting-to-unfold by the Philippine SEC, BSP, and media channels. No sooner than that, all FrancSwiss websites went down, the operators were nowhere to be found, and no investor received payment in the last few days.
FrancSwiss being officially declared a scam is now starting to sink in to most people. Investors have started telling their own FrancSwiss stories — including stories of financial losses, of distrust in the people who referred them to the program, and of deception, hopelessness, and confusion.
Here are some of these stories, taken from the Comments section of the article Is FrancSwiss a scam? and the HYIP: FrancSwiss discussion thread. True or not, these stories are surely something FrancSwiss investors can relate to.
Read on.
FrancSwiss ‘financial adviser’ nabbed by police
July 6, 2007
ABS-CBN's news program TV Patrol reported today that 26-year-old Eleazard "Ely" Castillo of Baguio City was nabbed by police for allegedly playing a part in the High-yield investment program (HYIP) FrancSwiss.
Castillo is considered the "chief financial adviser" of FrancSwiss and is said to be responsible for bringing in more than P300 million (US$6.5 million) worth of investments to the said online program.
According to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), thousands of Filipinos have "invested" in FrancSwiss, including actors, politicians, tv personalities, generals, OFWs, and retirees.
FrancsSwiss - with websites at [www.francswiss.com | www.francswiss.us | www.francswiss.biz] — is an HYIP that offers 4.5% interest per day for 60 days on a minimum investment of $1,000. It is not fully explained, however, how they are able to generate enough profits that would compensate for such abnormally high return.
Earlier this week, the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) tagged FrancsSwiss as a Ponzi scheme — an investment program that relies on new investments to pay older investments — and warned people against investing in online HYIPs.
The NBI said other known FrancSwiss personalities have now been placed under their "Wanted List." They include Jaime Poliquit (Davao City), Garry Espiritu (Metro Manila), alyas Jomarc (Fairview, Quezon City), Edwin Sendana (Pasig City), and Edward Ricalde (Pampanga).
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Video of the ABS-CBN news report after the jump.
