SEC warns against six investment-taking entities

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned the public against investing in six companies — Webmining, Oyala, BKC Trading, Winvest, Mazama, and Meta Trade — as they have not secured a license to offer securities.

In an advisory, the SEC said Webmining has been enticing investors through social media in its six investment plans worth P500. Investors in Webmining are promised earnings of P10,950 for one year.

Oyala, through its website, said it has a “diversified portfolio of business interest, including investments in retail, education, real estate, banking, telecommunications, water infrastructure, renewable energy, electronics, information technology, automotive, healthcare, management and business process outsourcing.”

Oyala has been offering three investment plans called Stable Products, Welfare Products, and Activity Products. Investments start from P370 to P100,000 in Stable Products, from P200 up to P777,777 in Welfare Products, and from P317 to P287,977 in Activity Products.

Depending on their investment value, Oyala investors are promised to earn up to P2.04 million after 55 days.

Meanwhile, BKC Trading was found to have been offering investments for as low as P30,000 up to P1 million to earn 12% up to 36% rate of return within three to six months.

Winvest, on the other hand, is said to have been earning profits through Binance futures trading with a promise of up to 3.5% daily return or up to 50% earnings in 14 days.

Winvest has been offering two types of investments — Starter Plan and Pro Plan — which start from P500 and can go as high as P100,000 per account.

Mazama’s application and website were also found to have been soliciting investments that investors can pay through GCash.

The investments are said to be placed in “ads machines” whose rent starts at P250 and goes as high as P1 million. Daily earnings in the ads machine may go as high as P165,000 depending on the rented machine.

Meanwhile, Meta Trade was found to have been offering three types of investment plans with a minimum price of P500 that can go up to P100,000.

Investors in Meta Trade are promised 30% earnings after five days, 70% earnings after 10 days, and 400% earnings after 30 days.

Meta Trade investors are said to get a 5% referral bonus with uplines getting a P200 daily allowance, group sales commission, and unilevel commission.

The commission identifies the schemes offered by the six entities as a Ponzi scheme as monies from new investors are used in paying “fake profits” to prior investors.

In its review, the regulator found out that Webmining, Oyala, BKC Trading, Winvest, Mazama, and Meta Trade are all not registered as corporations nor as partnerships under the SEC and therefore are not authorized to solicit investments from the public. —