By Daisy CL Mandap
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| The Facebook cover photo for the group behind the 'double your money' scam |
The Consulate has been asked to settle a case
involving an estimated Php1million allegedly fleeced by a Filipina domestic
helper from people based mainly in Hong Kong, who were lured by her promise of
doubling or even tripling their money in a few days.
At least 22 complainants with claims totaling more
than Php600,000 have sought the help of the Consulate through The SUN, in getting
their money back from Ailyn C., who reportedly told them she was into investments and had a string of
profitable businesses back in the Philippines.
According to their leader, the money involved should
be no less than Php1million, as there were around 60 of them who had been lured
into A.C.’s investment scam, which had been set up like a pyramiding network.
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Apparently sensing she was in big trouble, and
professing to be a victim herself, A.C. also reached out to The SUN, and
promised to return all the money being claimed from her salary as a domestic
helper.
A.C. said she had been disowned by her family who were
all exposed on social media from the bashings made by her investors, and she
needed to work in peace so she could pay them all back.
But she insisted it was a scheme gone awry because her investors did not wait for the right time to claim their earnings.
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Originally,
it was supposed to be an “Invest, Wait, Earn” (I.W.E) scheme and she said she was still trying to
set up a “source” for the payback, but the investors demanded she paid them
back fast, so it collapsed.
She and the complainants are set to meet at the Consulate this Sunday, Sept 20, so they could work out a repayment deal.
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| One of the Facebook posts set up to lure more 'investors' into the scam |
According to most complainants, they were promised a 100% return on their “investments” after 10-14 days, while a Filipino working in the United Arab Emirates said he was told he could triple his money in 15 days.
Asked why they fell for the stupendous offer, they
said A.C. was very convincing in her approach, even sending them copies of her
Hong Kong ID and passport as proof she was not out to con them.
The group’s leader, M.C., said the sweet-talking A.C.
had told them she would help them all get rich like her. A.C. reportedly said
she was in a very profitable online investment herself, and had various
businesses in the Philippines, including a water refilling station, an air
ticketing and remittance companies.
She also listed in her profile that her husband was a seafarer, which made her investors think she was indeed loaded.
What many chose to ignore was why A.C. still worked as
a domestic helper in Hong Kong when she should have been running all her
businesses in the Philippines which she claimed were all turning in a good
profit.
It did not occur to them, either, to check if A.C.C.
was a registered investment company, and was making such incredible profit as
to give back the outlandish interest promised them.
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The biggest claim came from M.M., another UAE-based
OFW who said in a handwritten statement that she had “paid in” a total of Php236,300
in ACC Investment between Jul 25 and Aug. 8 this year.
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| M.M. says the P236,300 listed in her claim includes money from other people |
M.M. said the money was partly her own, and partly collected from other people she had enticed to join the apparent scam.
In Hong Kong, the biggest claimant is M.C., who said
she had put in a total of Php112,000 belonging to herself and her husband. A
big chunk of the money was paid to ACC Investment in three installments, while
Php7,000 was paid to her “team” she collected money from.
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Online chats with M.C. revealed A.C. managed to get
people to send her money through conduits known as administrators. Many of her
investors were family members, friends or co-workers who were identified in the
scam by aliases and the money they paid separated by batches, ploys which
A.C. apparently used to distance herself from them.
M.C. herself managed to encourage a co-worker R.M., to
put in Php26,000 while she herself was encouraged to join the scam by her cousin,
L.P., who said A.C. was her reseller in her online business.
A.C. was reportedly a good business partner who never
failed to settle her obligations promptly that L.P. did not think twice about
putting in her hard-earned Php30,000 in the investment scam, despite well-meaning
advice from some friends.
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A.C. got them all hooked also because she did have “pay-outs”
for some investors, though not big enough to dent the stash she had built in
less than a month of peddling her get-rich-quick ploy.
She must have also been such a hypnotic seller that
even after she disappeared with their money, some of her victims still believe
she really has profitable businesses that could help her pay back all that she
owes.
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But on hindsight, M.C. thinks A.C. could also have
been a victim of her own greed, as she had apparently put in and lost some of
the money she had collected from them in other, similar online scams.
M.C. is calling on other people who may have been
tricked into dealing with ACC Investments to join them in filing a complaint
with the Consulate’s assistance to nationals section.
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