Updates on the Royal Manchester Five scam
April 15, 2008
Just a month after the Royal Manchester Five scam became public, there seems to be less media attention now and the enthusiasm of victims to run after the scammers is beginning to die down.
We scoured the internet for recent updates on this scam but failed to get news on major developments. Here’s what we’ve seen, though.
FrancSwiss promoter murdered?
November 8, 2007
In the discussion thread This is sad… maybe FrancSwiss-related, PMT member pinoynetworker posted that currently making the rounds in the local networking scene is the news that a certain Christopher or Cris Irabon has been identified as one of the victims in a salvage incident early this week.
Irabon is said to be a “power leader” in the Philippine networking scene who allegedly actively promoted the FrancSwiss investment program that eventually turned into a scam.
Local daily People’s Journal has the official news on the killings.
THE four salvage victims stuffed in a sack found atop a bridge in Taytay, Rizal Monday (October 5) have been identified by their relatives, police said yesterday.
The victims were identified as Maricel Sena, 24, five months pregnant, her sister Robilyn, 19, Christopher Irabon, 33, and Rolando Lopez, 35, live-in partner of Maricel.
Estrelita Sena, mother of the siblings, said they last saw the victims alive on October 31.
Police said the victims were tortured before they were killed.
Were the murders motivated by the FrancSwiss scam? That is a question for the police to answer.
In any case, we offer our condolences to the families of the victims.
Related reading:
- Discussion thread - This is sad… maybe FrancSwiss-related
- Discussion thread - HYIP: FrancSwiss
- Article - Is FrancSwiss a scam?
- Scam Programs Discussion Board
- List of Popular Scam Programs
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.
