NBI, SEC nab 2 Ponzi-scheme operators in Pagadian City
PAGADIAN CITY, ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) arrested two suspects allegedly involved in a Ponzi-scheme investment here.
Joey Moran, chief of the NBI Pagadian district office, said operatives entrapped Bernadeth Albaracin and John Mark Pineda on Wednesday, July 3, after the two met and sealed a deal with a poseur investor in a coffee shop in Sta. Lucia district here.
Both the NBI and the SEC launched the operation following the complaints earlier filed by 14 investors for the company’s failure to release the promised 35 to 50 percent interest of their investments and the promised freebies that included iPhones, a single motorcycle and a car, according to NBI Agent Leonardo Carpizo. This prompted the NBI to develop the case.
“It turned out that these people [operators] were not authorized to solicit investment from the public. That is why we coordinated with the SEC and conducted the operation,” Moran said.
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Article continues after this advertisementHe said the group first used the company name Skyline Trading for the operation, then renamed it to Hybrid Trading and later Neon Marketing, with the same people operating.
Article continues after this advertisementThe operators used the social media’s Messenger application to lure investors, then later either set a face-to-face meeting for the transfer of cash investments or conduct the business transaction online, according to the NBI.
Moran said investments range from P200,000 to a million pesos. “The amount varies,” he said. “They just receive them and offer interests of 35 to 50 percent and options for locked-in investments of 15 days or 30 days.”
For locked-in investments, operators entice investors with freebies like a single motorcycle, a car or smartphones, depending on the rate of investments and the choice of the investors.
Moran expected more investors to file complaints against the company since the operation started in April this year.
He said all the 14 complainants who sought the help of the NBI came from Zamboanga del Sur but refused to identify them for security reasons. “We are still accounting for all the collected investments in the Pagadian operation,” he said.
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Lawyer Rona Santos, legal counsel of the SEC extension office based in Zamboanga City, said they had issued an advisory following their investigation of the the operations of Skyline Crypto and Dry Goods Trading which started in April this year.
“(The company) is not authorized to solicit investments from the SEC and has committed a criminal offense. What Skyline Trading, which later on became Neon Marketing, is doing (constitutes) a Ponzi-scheme,” she said. “The operation is not backed up by any legitimate business and is bound to collapse, she said.
Santos also said one of the operators of the Neon Marketing here identified as John Paul Lopez was among the identified operators of the Silver Lion Livestock Trading raided by the NBI and SEC in Zamboanga City in 2022.
The Pagadian City operation has the same modus operandi as that in Zamboanga City, Santos said. “This is a criminal offense and a violation of the Securities Regulation Code,” she said.
Carpizo confirmed that investors had yet to withdraw interests from their cash investments. The company had no physical office in Pagadian City and only conducted online transactions and later would arrange how the investors deposit their investments, either face-to-face or through online fund transfer,” Carpizo said.
Carpizo also said that Pineda, one of the arrested suspects, was renting a room at a local inn here while Albaracin was a resident.
