The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned the public against investing in two order grabbing applications as they are not licensed to sell securities.
In its advisory, the SEC urged the public to stop investing in A Plus Investment and PHMall mobile phone application as they are engaged in Ponzi schemes where monies from new investors are used in paying fake profits to prior investors and are designed mainly to favor its top recruiters and prior risk takers.
“The offering and selling of securities in the form of investment contracts using the Ponzi scheme, which is fraudulent and unsustainable, is not a registrable security. The commission will not issue a license to sell securities to the public to persons or entities that are engaged in this business or scheme,” the agency said.
Members of these order grabbing sites would be asked to rate items in the online shopping mall by clicking on the item as a positive rating. They would be rewarded for their efforts, based on the number of clicks and the size of their investment.
The percentage of commission, however, will be based on the size of their investment, and the bigger the amount, the more opportunities they will have to click items.
Order grabbing itself is controversial as many websites around the world have already closed down after operating for a brief period.
A Plus Investment, which also uses brand names, such as A+, A Plus and A Plus Mall, is selling its membership products on its website and Facebook page. Investors can join by registering first, then they can choose from any of the three levels—VIP 1 worth P800, VIP 2 worth P5,700 and VIP 3 worth P35,000.
Investors can earn a 10-percent commission for direct referral, 5-percent commission for indirect referral and 2-percent commission for subordinate. Investors can also earn through invitation rewards ranging from P50 up to P25,000 depending on how many of those they have invited have availed of the said levels.
“Briefly, an investment contract exists when there is an investment or placement of money in a common enterprise with a reasonable expectation of profits to be derived from the efforts of others which is prominent in the scheme of A+,” the SEC said.
PH Mall also employs the same scheme in which investors can join by registering first, then they can choose from any of the six plans with corresponding 20 daily grabbing orders from online shopping applications, such as Lazada.
PH Mall employs six levels of plans starting with VIP 1, worth P100, which is free upon sign-up, up to VIP 6 worth P200,000.
Investors can earn P320.00 to P240,000 monthly depending on their plan of choice. They can also earn from direct order rebate, 10 percent and 5 percent for indirect order rebate, and invitation rewards ranging from P100 to P200,000. They can also earn from a shared bank financial wealth management expert—from 1 percent for a seven-day period of purchase and up to 5 percent for the 180-day period of purchase.
The SEC said they will submit all the names of all those involved in the said schemes to the Bureau of Internal Revenue to assess the taxes or penalties they need to pay.