EDITORIAL – Investment scams

Before Rosario Baladjay there were a number of other people who had promised Filipinos unusually big returns on financial investments. Remember those huge billboards advertising Cosmos and its Japanese founder? Genta Ogami wasn’t pitching a brand of soft drink but a financial scam. Ogami has since been arrested in Japan, but not before he had bilked thousands of Filipinos of their hard-earned money and even made a stab at show business.

Like other con artists, Ogami had charm. Such people have enough persuasive powers to sell the idea of a fast buck to potential victims, no matter how incongruous the margin of profit looks when compared to regular banking rates. Few victims of pyramid scams bother to check interest rates, so they find nothing suspicious about a promise of doubling or tripling their money in just a year. In a land where people believe fortunes can be made overnight through the state lottery, a year can be too long a wait for making money. Even fewer pyramid scam victims bother to find out where their money is being invested.

And it’s not just ordinary folks who are gullible enough to fall for questionable investment schemes. If Baladjay is telling the truth, among the investors in her Multitel investment company were senators and congressmen. Investigators are also looking into the sources of hefty investments made in Multitel by ranking military and police officers. Another factor that has made pyramid scams thrive is that such investment schemes are often used to funnel dirty money. When the con artist takes everyone’s money and runs, certain victims can’t seek help in recovering unexplained wealth.

The case of Multitel and other companies now under investigation for engaging in pyramid scams should prod Congress as well as finance and monetary authorities to implement measures to stop the proliferation of these swindling schemes. Stiff penalties should be imposed. An information campaign should be launched to warn the public about such schemes. And those who invest unexplained wealth in pyramid scams should be investigated for money laundering.