Beware of Investment Scams
As the below poster from Pesos and Sense goes: “Aral muna bago invest” – Aya Laraya.
Indeed, before entering into any investment, financial or otherwise, study your options first.
In the news for weeks now, we hear about thousands of investors in Visayas and Mindanao duped by Aman Futures Group, Visioner 20/20, and The Rasuman Group. These separate groups have all promised the same thing: get-rich-quick, guaranteeing 30%-60% return rate in a short period of time.
Every few years, we see these stories in the news. The faces change, the names change, but the tactics are all the same. Why then do our countrymen still fall prey to these scammers?
Before October closed I attended Module 2 of the Pesos and Sense Seminar Series: Time Value of Money. I attended the first module (Make your money grow) months ago and have made initial investments since then. In this installment, I learned about key things one should take into consideration when deciding on a suitable investment. One of these is FUTURE VALUE – how much do you want to get in the future out of your investment?
Now in scam situations, the promised future value is usually very high, 30% to 70% of the initial investment. What’s more is that this is supposedly recoverable within a short amount of time, say a year. So are claims like this automatically scams in nature? If they are unable to tell you exactly where the profit is coming from, where the money is going to be invested, then you need to start asking more questions. If it’s too good to be true, then maybe it is too good to be true. Even PNoy offered his tips on avoiding pyramid scams.
In How to Avoid Investment Scams, we are given four questions that we need to ask anyone offering us an investment opportunity:
- What is the background of the company?
- How much do I invest and how much will I get?
- When will I get it?
- How will I earn?
These are very simple questions, but the answers are very important.
In summary, it pays to be educated. Here, educated doesn’t mean formal schooling or a University degree. Financial literacy is key. Do not go into something without first learning about it.
For this information (and more), driving to Commonwealth on a Saturday afternoon was well worth it. I had almost missed the seminar because my day was so full (Friday night shift > Monday morning therapy > Seminar in the afternoon > Saturday night shift) but I didn’t want to throw away the free pass that the Pesos and Sense team gave me for being a loyal stalker of their projects. And Sir Aya and team did not disappoint. There was new information, and I learned a lot from the very active audience. Compared to the first seminar I attended, there were more questions from the floor this time. There was even a long line after the session because some participants chose to field their questions privately.
The Pesos and Sense Seminar Series is something I would continue to recommend to anyone wanting to know more about growing their money. They have raised registration prices a bit, but just consider it as your initial investment for your future. 
