Education chief: Teachers avoid high-yielding investment offers

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Education on Thursday warned the public especially its teaching and non-teaching personnel against high-yielding investment scams.

Education Secretary Armin Luistro said that there are certain lending institutions or organizations that solicit investments from the public purportedly for a substantial return on investment.

"Offers such as faster return on investment and a higher than normal rate of return are attractive to the gullible who are more susceptible to this kind of scam," Luistro added.

He said that one of the modus is to ask the unsuspecting teacher to deposit a certain amount to the bank and to present the deposit slip as proof of enrolment to the scheme. The teacher will then be left empty-handed, Luistro said.

He cited that there was an instance involving teachers at Commonwealth High School in Quezon City where they were made to invest a certain amount of money deductible from their monthly salaries.

The alleged investment, they were told, has a provision for loan application. But when the teachers applied for a loan, they were denied for lack of required amount of contribution. When they asked for a refund, they were rebuffed, Luistro said.

"We therefore warn all DepEd personnel to be extra cautious when offered high- yielding instruments which are too good to be true because more often than not, they are untrue," Luistro said.