Investors file complaints vs Bacolod-based firm

By Glazyl Y. Masculino

 

BACOLOD City – Around 30 persons lodged a complaint before Police Station 8 here on Monday night against an investment firm in Barangay Tangub here.

Police Major Joery Puerto, station commander, said the complainants reported that they have invested thousands and even millions of their money to an investment company identified as RGS World Marketing.

The firm assured them of big returns but until now they have yet to receive their payout.

Puerto said some of the complainants were from Capiz who traveled here amid the pandemic to personally lodge the complaint since the main office of the investment firm is located here.

However, the office is already closed, and the contact persons of the firm cannot be reached anymore.

Daily Guardian is still trying to get the side of the management.

Puerto said the last message they received from the firm was the assurance of returning their investment by Friday, April 23, 2021.

If the firm could not comply with it, Puerto said the complainants can pursue the filing of large scale estafa charges against the persons behind the alleged investment scam.

Puerto said there was a complainant here who invested P6 million but has yet to receive a payout.

“Dugay na ini, kag damo-damo na gid napasalig,” the station commander added.

Aside from the 30 complainants, Puerto said there were also other persons who already previously reported the same firm for the same modus.

Police Lieutenant Liberty Indiape, information officer of Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO), said they were informed about it but they have difficulty addressing the issue because the complainants are scattered in various areas.

She, however, said that they will still continue to cater the complaints and investigate the matter.

Indiape said they will have the matter discussed with other government agencies during their meeting on Thursday. She said that the matter has been also earlier referred to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) here.

To note, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an advisory against investing in another unauthorized group, RGS World Marketing Corp., which also operates under the names RGS Online Shop, RGS Online Marketing, and RGS Online Foundation.

The groups are said to be headed by Rodolfo Garcia Salarda, Jr., Henje Noble Cuadra, and Engie Esteves, according to the SEC advisory issued earlier this year.

RGS Online Shop/RGS Online Marketing is registered with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) under Business Name No. 2240745 on Oct. 14, 2020.

RGS World Marketing is a corporation registered with the SEC under company registration No. CS202069716 on Dec. 10, 2020 while RGS Foundation is not registered with the commission.

 

RGS World Marketing’s main offering involves a scheme wherein investors can easily earn money.

“Investigation disclosed that the lynchpin of RGS World Marketing Corp.’s scheme is its First In First Pay Out Policy and No Invite No Pay Out Policy, which means an investor is no longer required to do anything, [for example], sell RGS Soap and RGS Liniment Oil among others, except to wait for the return of his or her money,” the corporate regulator said in an advisory.

The entities are in multi-level marketing, which involves chain distribution or pyramid sales, the SEC said.

The commission reminded the public that the scheme is “prohibited by the Republic Act No. 7394 or the Consumer Act of the Philippines as the company relies heavily on recruitment of potential members rather than selling its products.”

The SEC also said that RGS World Marketing’s multi-level marketing is a front for its unauthorized investment collection activities.

The entities are reportedly offering a scheme called “complans,” where investors are grouped according to the plans they choose.

Those lured in the scheme are promised a return of at least 250% within a month or so, depending on the plan and the payout schedule they sign up for.

Investors can put in as low as P1,000, with a promise of a guaranteed growth to P3,500; while investments worth P5,000 are promised P17,500.

Those who invest P10,000 in the scheme are promised a growth of 250% to 300%, with returns ranging from P35,000 to P40,000. A P20,000 investment may earn up to P80,000.

RGS World Marketing also offers investors three different ways of earning: through referral bonuses, board bonus or payouts, or through direct selling.

Those who opt to earn via direct selling will receive RSG products for use or for sale for every P1,000 worth of membership.

The SEC maintains that the entities do not have a license to collect investments from the public. It noted that the offer of MGS World Marketing resembles a Ponzi scheme, where investors earn through the investments of new recruits.

“Please be informed that although RGS World Marketing Corp. is a registered corporation under the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines, and while RGS Online Shop/RGS Online Marketing are registered with the DTI, nonetheless, all of them are not authorized to solicit investments from the public as they did not secure prior registration and/or license to solicit investments from the Commission as prescribed under Section 8 of the Securities Regulation Code,” the commission warned.

Meanwhile, Faith Tesoro, 28, of La Carlota City, Negros Occidental was arrested for qualified theft charges at Barangay Cubay last Monday.

According to the police, Tesoro was considered the ninth most wanted person in the city after she reportedly failed to remit the payments she received from the clients of their lending firm amounting to P124,987 from March to April 2017.

Tesoro, an office clerk at the firm, also allegedly refused to submit records of her receipts during the audit which prompted the company to file a case against her.

The arrest warrant with no bail recommended was issued by Judge Mila Yap-Camiso of Regional Trial Court Branch 63 in the city.

The suspect is now detained at La Carlota City Police Station.