National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) officials said yesterday they are set to coordinate with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to help identify the people behind the alleged international pyramid syndicate FrancSwiss Investment.
Senior Agent Manny Fayre of the NBI-National Capital Region (NCR) said they will course their request to their FBI counterparts through the NBI-Interpol Division tomorrow.
“We have received information that the website service provider is in the United States, that is why we need the cooperation of the FBI and Interpol to identify the service provider that owns the domain,” Fayre said.
Based on the Interpol data, FrancSwiss – which promotes an easy-money making scheme done through the Internet – is located in Utah, United States but it is sub-based to several users.
Once they learn the identity of the person who rented and paid for the computer program, the NBI hopes to track down the syndicate running the operation.
Hundreds of people have been to the NBI, claiming they were victims of the alleged scam.
Recently, wives of seafarers have been coming to their office and claimed that their husbands were duped into opening a $1,000 account with FrancSwiss.
“Their husbands already gave them special powers of attorney so they would be able to stand in behalf of the complainants,” Fayre said.
Thirty seamen also went to the NBI to ask for help, but some are hesitant to press charges because they were reportedly threatened that once they complain about their failed investments, they would have difficulty getting assignments on board international vessels because of pending cases.
“We told them that they should remain strong and not be intimidated by such threats because they have the right to complain,” Fayre said.
Meanwhile, NBI-NCR Regional Director Ruel Lasala is set to meet with representatives from the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Anti-Money Laundering Council, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Philippine National Police, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for a case conference on the FrancSwiss investigation. – Evelyn Macairan