The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ordered PawisngPinoyOnline Investment to stop soliciting investments from the public through a non-existent product distribution, real estate, and jewelry business.
In an order dated March 1, the SEC directed PawisngPinoy to immediately cease from engaging in the unauthorized solicitation or sale of securities without the necessary license and approval from the SEC.
The SEC also ordered PawisngPinoy to cease their Internet presence. They were likewise prohibited from transacting any business involving funds in its depository banks, and from transferring any related assets to ensure the preservation of the assets of the investors.
The agency issued the cease-and-desist order after its Enforcement and Investor Protection Department (EIPD) found PawisngPinoy to have been soliciting from the public investments ranging fromP2,000 to P10,000, in exchange for a guaranteed passive income ofP4,500 to P20,500 within five to six days.
The group has also been promising investors P500 to P2,500 in bonuses. The scheme involves the sale and offer of securities to the public in the form of investment contracts, whereby a person invests his money in a common enterprise and is led to expect profits primarily from the efforts of others, according to the SEC.
“[T]his Commission finds, and so holds, that PawisngPinoy is unlawfully engaged in the sale and/or offer of unregistered securities in the form of investment contract, because it has no license to carry out the same,” the SEC held.
The investments received from the public will allegedly be used for PawisngPinoy’s rice trading business, construction and medical supplies distribution, and real estate operations, which the EIPD found to be non-existent.
“This is the common enterprise that is being sustained by the investments received by PawisngPinoy, although the same is masked by a product distribution, real estate, and jewelry business which, in reality, does not exist,” the SEC said.
The EIPD also found PawisngPinoy to have been using a fake Certificate of Filing of Amendment of Bylaws, to make it appear as if it has been authorized by the SEC to solicit investments from the public.
PawisngPinoy is not registered with the commission as a corporation or partnership. Accordingly, it cannot secure a secondary license needed for the issuance of securities for public offering the SRC.
The SEC has warned the public against dealing with or investing in PawisngPinoy as early as January 11 through an advisory posted on the SEC website.
“[T]his Commission holds that the act of PawisngPinoy in selling/offering unregistered securities operates as a fraud to the public which, if unrestrained, will likely cause grave or irreparable injury or prejudice to the investing public,” the order read
