The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently issued an advisory (as seen below) on AZENZO-ONLINE, warning the public of the individuals and groups involved in such activities. The advisory defines the activities behind the scheme, and advises the public to not to invest or stop investing in any investment scheme offered by the said company.
In support of this view, Coins.ph does not endorse or is affiliated in any way with such activities or products. Moreover, we have a zero tolerance policy on fraudulent activities and potentially scamming practices. In a separate article, we have enumerated tips on how you can avoid investment schemes and other online scams. We urge our customers to be extra diligent with their funds and to act within our User Agreement.
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The Commission has found postings on the internet where individuals or group of persons representing what they claim to be an independent Crowd Funding Platform called AZENZO-ONLINE, is enticing the public to invest in said entity.
AZENZO ONLINE boasts that they have a KAPA style system of Deposit-Donation, Withdrawal-Blessing.
Based on posts on Facebook (FB) and YouTube channel, AZENZO-ONLINE is enticing the public to invest in the said entity with a promise a 30% return or Blessing in as early as 5, 10 or 15 days and to a 100% “Donation Return” after 20 days.
This scheme of AZENZO ONLINE is relative to the offering and sale of securities, in the form of investment contracts, to the public because its investors need not exert any effort other than to invest or place monies in the said company in order to derive income.
As such, Section 8 of the Securities Regulation Code (SRC) requires that said offer and sale of securities must be duly registered with the Commission and that the concerned corporation and/or its agents have appropriate registration and/or license to sell such securities to the public.
The public is hereby informed that AZENZO-ONLINE is not registered with the Commission as a corporation or partnership and is not authorized to solicit investments from the public as this entity did not secure prior registration and/or license to solicit investment from the Commission as prescribed under Section 8 of the Securities Regulation Code (SRC).
Those who act as salesmen, brokers, dealers or agents of AZENZO-ONLINE in selling or convincing people to invest in the investment scheme being offered by the said entity including soliciting investments or recruiting investors through the internet may be held criminally liable under Section 28 of the SRC and penalized with a maximum fine of Five Million Pesos (Php5,000,000.00) or imprisonment of Twenty One (21) years or both pursuant to Section 73 of the SRC (SEC vs. Oudine Santos, G.R. No. 195542, 19 March 2014).
In addition, under the Bayahihan To Heal As One Act (R.A. 11469), individuals or groups participating in cyber incidents that make use or take advantage of the current (Covid-19) crisis situation to prey on the public through scams, phishing, fraudulent emails, or other similar acts are punishable with imprisonment of two (2) months or a fine of not less than Ten thousand pesos (Php10,000.00) but not more than One million pesos (Php1,000,000.00), or both.
In view thereof, the public is hereby advised to STOP INVESTING in the investment scheme being offered by AZENZO-ONLINE and its representatives.
Furthermore, the names of all those involved will be reported to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) so that the appropriate penalties and/or taxes be correspondingly assessed.
Should you have any information regarding the operation of the subject entity, please
send your report to the Enforcement and Investor Protection Department at epd@sec.gov.ph.
For the guidance of the public.
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You can visit this link for more safety tips for your Coins.ph account. If you have any further questions, you may reach out to us at help@coins.ph.
