Almost scammed

Since I was in my 20s, I’ve been preparing for the future — saving and investing. Friends call me kuripot because of my thriftiness. Even without an offspring, I bought an insurance plan because it is cheaper when you’re young and single. 
When I hear about investments, I get curious because we want to grow old with passive income. 
Needless to say, when my kumpare-cum-cameraman shared with me their investment in the Tibayan company back in 2000-something, I was interested. They were making money with their investment that his in-laws decided to put in more than a million pesos from their retirement money.

I didn’t need further prodding. I was shown a certification from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and was told that the company would issue postdated checks for my interest.

True enough, the checks were good, and every month for three months, I was cashing in on my investment. I told my Mama Elaine about this “good investment” (if I recall correctly, nine percent a month) but she insisted that I get my money back

Every month, I received my interest and until the end of the term, six months. But Mama Elaine kept on following up if I had withdrawn my investment. I did as she told, and less than two weeks after, the pyramiding company collapsed. I got my money plus interest, but unfortunately for my kumpare and his family, and many others did not. 

In another instance, I was again almost swindled by a co-worker. Mama Elaine asked me to sell her jewelry at work. This lady co-worker who looked sosyal told me she was interested, but she borrowed it to have it appraised. 

A day passed and she said she left the jewelry at her house. The following day I could not reach her. Mama instructed me to go to the house of my co-worker to get the jewelry. Instead, I met her nice parents, and later on, we discovered that the jewelry was pawned. The parents were so embarrassed, and they helped me get the jewelry from the pawnshop, and the father requested that I don’t tell others about the “incident.” Take note, the family was not even poor.  

For the second time, my Mama Elaine saved me, but she herself had to reckon with dishonest individuals.  
Generally, Mama tells me, these manlolokos tell people that they are in need of money. You trust them because you think you know them. In one instance, a man borrowed money from Mama even offering his house for collateral. He did not pay the amount that he borrowed so she proceeded to foreclose the property, only to find out later that the title he gave Mama was a title to a property of far lesser value. 

There are so many lessons to be learned in investing, and sometimes you think you know all the modus operandi, but the scammers are getting more creative so we have to be careful. 
Despite the abundance of scammers, I still believe that it is still wise to invest for your future, but always take every investment option presented to you with a grain of salt.  

Here are some things I learned about money: 

1. “When it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t.” Visioner 20-20, another pyramiding scam, offers 30 percent return in eight days! A very good investment in mutual funds could earn you an average of 20 percent a year, depending on how the market performs. There are risks always. I invest now with Manulife through my eldest brother, Joseph, who I know would never recommend a product for the sake of a commission. 

2. Be very careful in trusting people. When people borrow money from you, don’t expect to be paid back. Lend the amount that you can part with. Even friends may have the best of intentions, but you never know if something important arises and they don’t pay you back. Mama tells me never lend money to friends because if they don’t pay you, you end up hurting each other. 

3. Don’t take other people’s word for it. When people tell you that they’re making money on an investment, do your assignment. Check! 

4. Postdated checks are not a guarantee that a borrower or a company will pay you. Plus, to go after bouncing checks, you have to spend for lawyer’s fees, etc. It also takes forever to penalize anyone. 

5. Scrutinize documents. If not an expert, get someone you know to dissect it for you. For land titles, check with the Land Registration Authority (LRA) to verify documents. Be careful also about real Transfer Certificate of Titles (TCT), but fake owners! Some con artists even have postal IDs and TIN to supposedly prove ownership. 

6. For SEC registration, check if the company is registered and allowed to sell or offer whatever it is that they are presenting you. It’s best to check with the Insurance Commission. 

7. When buying real estate for rental income, it’s not easy to rent out units with so many condominiums already. When an agent tells you that you can pay your amortization with rental income, think twice. 

8. Don’t get into something you do not know anything about. Not because someone is earning from a certain endeavor means that you can do the same. Study.  

9. Be liquid ­— and be careful on taking out loans that you intend to pay with your future income. “We make our own problems,” Mama tells me. If you don’t want problems, don’t borrow money.  

10.  Learn from other people’s experiences. Sadly, we’ve heard about all sorts of scams in the past, from Tibayan to Multitel to Franc Swiss... and yet, there are thousands of others still victimized by Aman Futures, Visioner 20-20, Rasuman, etc. 

Many times there are telltale signs that something is not right. Trust your gut feel.

(E-mail me your comments at [email protected].)