SEC names more entities for investors to avoid

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) cautioned the public against investing in three more entities, which it deemed unauthorized to solicit investments.

In three separate advisories posted on its website, the SEC warned about Moo Farm, Ayn E-Commerce, and Centuros Finance Group II as they do not have the necessary license to sell or offer securities to the public.

Moo Farm allegedly entices people to invest in the platform consisting of eight levels, with the minimum investment at P300 (Cow 1 basic plan) up to P50,000 (Cow 8 master plan), with promised daily earnings of P100 and P50,000, respectively.

Investors are said to automatically get P100 on their Moo Farm account after registering.

“The scheme employed by Moo Farm has the characteristics of a Ponzi Scheme where money from new investors are used in paying fake profits to prior investors and is designed mainly to favor its top recruiters and prior risk takers and is detrimental to subsequent members in case of scarcity of new investors,” the SEC said. 

For Ayn E-Commerce, the SEC said one of the entity’s advertisements claims to offer a daily profit of P1,000 to P5,000 by spending at least 10 to 15 minutes on their platform. The entity is recruiting people seeking part-time employment. 

According to the corporate regulator, the investment activities of Ayn E-Commerce exemplify a tasking and recharging scheme where scammers use false promises, positive reviews, and fabricated testimonies from fictitious people to entice investors that they could earn money by accomplishing an easy task.

The SEC said the organization demands “direct payments and/or membership fees from investors as a prerequisite of getting hired on a part-time basis.”

“The initial earnings received by the investor is simply a deception for him to invest more money. After that, the investor discovers that the recharge services of the entity are absent and he can no longer withdraw his investments,” it added.

Meanwhile, Centuros allegedly encourages the public to invest online in three programs called Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie, which promise a guaranteed profit ranging from 80% to 160%.

“Centuros likewise offers a referral bonus equivalent to 5% of the investment received by the entity from the referrals made by its members. Based on the entity’s representation, the purported source of the guaranteed income offered by the entity to the public comes from its cryptocurrency trading activities allegedly using binance as its platform,” the SEC said. 

“The investment offering by Centuros constitutes selling or offering for sale of unregistered securities in the form of investment contract as the investors are enticed to earn guaranteed profit ranging from 80% to 160% by simply investing their money to Centuros in violation of Sections 8, 26 and 28 of the Securities Regulation Code,” it added. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave