Patay tells operators of ‘quick-rich’ investments scams: Cease your operations or face arrest

Police Colonel Lito Patay, head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas, said they will be going after investment scam operators. | Delta Dyrecka Letigio

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The campaign of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7) against businesses engaged in “quick-rich” scams will not end with the raid of the Organico Agribusiness Ventures office in Cebu City and ADA Farm Agri Ventures office in Mandaue City.

Police Colonel Lito Patay, CIDG-7 chief, said that they are now gathering information from electronic data and transaction records that they confiscated for use as evidences in the filing of complaints against the operators of the two businesses.

He said that they will also be going after other businesses that are involved in investments scams in the coming days.

CIDG-7 operatives raided the Organico regional office located in Barangay Kasambagan, Cebu City on Tuesday morning.  A few hours later, they also raised the ADA Farm office located along M.C. Briones Street in Mandaue City.

Read More: CIDG-7 raids Organico regional office in Cebu City

Organico promises a 30 percent return of any investments made on their hogs and poultry business while  ADA Farm entices the public to invest by purchasing a minimum of 10 chicks for P500 with a guaranteed profit of 80 percent after a period of 60 days.

However, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)  said that the two businesses are not authorized to accept investments while ADA also lacked SEC registration.

The raid on the two investment companies was made a day after personnel from the Regional Special Operations Group (RSOG-7) and the National Bureau of Investigation in Central Visayas (NBI-7) raided the KAPA Community Ministry International, Inc. office located in Barangay Poblacion in Cordova town that also collects investment from its members in the guise of donations.

Read More: RSOG, NBI-7 search Kapa office; confiscate members records 

Brigadier General Debold Sinas, director of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said that he will be calling  chiefs of the police offices in the cities of Cebu and Mandaue next week to make sure that Organico and ADA Farms will no longer resume operations within their respective jurisdictions.

Sinas also warned those involved in money “scams” to expect the police to also raid their establishments after they coordinate with SEC and the NBI to force them to already cease their operations.

Patay said that Organico and ADA Farms transact online making it easier for them to deceive their clients.

He said that they confiscated internet routers from the raids that they conducted on Organico offices in Cebu and Bohol provinces.

Cracking their online transactions, he said, may provide substantial information that can further strengthen the cases that they will be filing against the owners and managers of the two businesses for the violation of the Securities and Exchange Code.

“Possible nga padayon gihapon ilang transactions through online bisag gi close na ila office kay nakakuha mig notices didto nga ideliver ra daw ang payouts sa balay,” said Patay.

(It is possible that these two agencies continue their online transactions despite the closure of their offices because we found notices where they advised their clients that their respective payouts will just be delivered to their homes.)

Patay is urging the operators of Organico and ADA Farms to already cease their online operations, return the money of their clients and surrender because the police will continue to pursue them.

He also urged the public to already cease from investing in quick-rich scams because “anything that is too good to be true must either be a scam or an illegal business.”

“Dili ta magdali og padato. Maningkamot ta nga modato ta bisan hinay-hinay. Atong susihon og tinood ba gyod ni atong gisudlan nga negosyo kay wala gyoy negosyo nga ing-ana ka dako ug kapaspas ang pagbalik sa kwarta,” he said.

(We should not be in a hurry to get rich. Instead, let us work hard to earn. We should be skeptical when investing our hard-earned money on a particular business because no business can guarantee big returns in a short period of time.)

At the same time, Patay urged scam victims to report to the police and file charges against these agencies. /dcb