Investment Scams are Proliferating. Be Careful!

I know I have written already about pyramid scams and cited one case of Emgoldex, which is now under investigation, but since then, so many other clones of pyramid schemes have cropped up.

The latest one being investigated is OneDream Marketing headed by a certain Arnel Gacer who, as of this writing, could not be located by the authorities. Similar to previous pyramid schemes that SEC had warned about, One Dream people allegedly offered investment slots of PhP 888 with an exit or pay-out promise of PhP 1,300 after 4 days. A PhP 1,776 investment slot would result in a pay-out of PhP 2,517.60 and so on. Investors were also promised PhP 44 per investment slot for each recruit or direct referral they bring in.

One Dream's domain is now available again. This is  what I found in cache.
One Dream’s domain is now available again. This is what I found in cache.

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Why I don’t believe in the ‘paluwagan’ system as a mode of saving

Yes, I am beginning this article with that statement. I don’t believe that the paluwagan system is a good mode of saving. Have you ever been invited to join one? Been tempted to try? I did – a long, long time ago. And that is the reason for writing this. Read on and I’ll tell you why.

How does ‘paluwagan’ work?

* A group of friends or work colleagues agree to contribute a specific amount on a specific day. A collector is designated from among the group members to collect from everyone and the money goes into a pool of funds. To illustrate, let’s say there are 4 friends, each one putting P100 into the pool each month.

How paluwagan works
How paluwagan works

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Don’t lose your life savings to pyramiding schemes

A company called Emgoldex Philippines has been in the news lately because of a Securities and Exchange Commission warning to Filipinos that this is a pyramiding scheme.

That gave me the idea to blog about pyramiding schemes as opposed to multilevel marketing because many times, people view these two as one and the same. Not quite.

Where they look similar

Both pyramiding schemes and multilevel marketing (MLMs) have a similar triangular structure where the base gets wider as each new recruit tries to recruit other members so that they earn from their recruits.

But there are more areas where they differ…

Taken from https://godshotspot.wordpress.com/2014/11/18/gospel-pyramid-scheme/
Taken from https://godshotspot.wordpress.com/2014/11/18/gospel-pyramid-scheme/

Continue reading “Don’t lose your life savings to pyramiding schemes”