PHL-based financial planners warn OFWs against investment scams

Published November 2, 2019 4:41pm

By LUCKY MAE F. QUILAO
Philippine-based financial planners have advised OFWs to refrain from investing in financial ventures that promise "high guaranteed returns" within a short period, even as they encouraged  expatriates to devote time every day to leaning ways in handle finances.
“Don't invest in something they don't understand. Watch out for the red flag of scams having high guaranteed returns with low risk,” Argel Tiburcio advised OFWs in an email interview with GMA News Online.
"Financial education is the key. If the OFW cannot do much aside from his or her chore like the seafarers, my advice usually is to commit to learning, even if it's just 30 minutes a day.
"They have access to the internet, so I give them websites where they can read and learn -- to sacrifice some of their social media time and use it for learning," another registered financial planner Fitz Gerard Villafuerte told GMA News Online in another email interview.
Last August 15, a group of OFWs from Saudi Arabia was lured into investing in the venture of a certain Elpidio Tanaliga Jr.
Three of those tricked to invest were draftsmen Jade Doromal Baes, and Rommel Sanchez who both invested a million pesos; and factory supervisor Joen Palabon who invested half a million pesos.
In past years, schemes to dupe OFWs were reported. One even used the name of Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III for an online scam.
Another one was an alleged loan program of an agency that protects and promotes the welfare of OFWs and their dependents preying on OFWs in Hong Kong and Macau.
But OFWs can avoid falling for "scams disguised as investments," Tiburcio pointed out.
“Basic financial literacy education is the key. Pinoys should invest on themselves first, attend seminars, read books, and go to workshops, among others,” he said. —LBG, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

Vietnam condemns China's 'brutal behavior' in fisher attack ---- Agence France-Presse

HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam's foreign ministry condemned on Wednesday China's "brutal behavior" during a violent attack on Vietnamese fishers in the disputed South China Sea. The 10 fishermen were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars' worth of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands -- an archipelago in the resource-rich waterway claimed by China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. Vietnam "resolutely protests the brutal behavior of Chinese law enforcement forces against Vietnamese fishermen and fishing vessels operating in the Hoang Sa archipelago of Vietnam", foreign ministry spokesperson Vietnam Pham Thu Hang said in a statement, using the Vietnamese term for the Paracel Islands. "The above actions of Chinese law enforcement forces seriously violated Vietnam's sovereignty" over the archipelago, the statement said. Four of the Vietnamese crew were taken to hospital on Monday...
Read more

Africa roads are world’s deadliest despite few cars ---- AFP

ADDIS ABABA: Africa has the fewest roads and cars of any region, and yet the largest ratio of vehicle deaths, caused by the usual suspects — unsafe habits, speeding and drinking — but also poor infrastructure, scant rescuers and old cars. As everywhere, speed, alcohol and not wearing a seat belt or helmet are among the main causes of death and injury, say experts. But in Africa, where there are 620 traffic deaths every day, these problems are compounded by bad roads, outdated vehicles, minimal prosecutions and a shortage of emergency services. A recent World Health Organization report found that Africa surpassed the rest of the world, including Southeast Asia — which recorded the most road deaths — with a record ratio of 19.5 people killed per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021. Home to only around four percent of the world’s automobiles, Africa accounted for 19 percent of road deaths last year. “What is worrying is the upward trend in Africa,” said Jean Todt, a former head of the Internati...
Read more