A PROPOSAL to create an Anti-Scam Task Force is underway and now awaits the approval of Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Oscar Moreno.

City Councilor George Goking said the committee on trade and commerce, which he chairs, has sent a recommendation to the mayor's office for the creation of the task force as part of the city's efforts to address the reported scams proliferating in the city.

The task force will be composed of the following: the Anti-Money Laundering Council, various law enforcement agencies such as the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, National Bureau of Investigation, Cagayan de Oro Police Office, Securities and Exchange Commission, Regulatory Complaint Board, City Legal Office, City Treasurer Office, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

"This is a priority because we know that these scams are targeting our people, we also got the support on the committee of finance, they are willing to allocate a budget for this task force so that we can really implement well," he said.

"Initially, we will increase social media awareness and later on, when the task force will be formed, we can identify these unscrupulous groups who are actually conducting suspicious seminars. We will see on how we can penetrate them," he added.

The move was made after SEC regional director Renato Egypto urged the city government to lead the campaign against scams.

Egypto has sounded alarm bells after observing that seminars on investments are conducted too often by some groups claiming to be “experts” on these kind of investment schemes.

He said the deception usually start in these seminars with the scammers posing as experts and newly minted millionaires.

He said groups conducting seminars and lectures on cryptocurrencies and foreign exchange trading should be regulated as this might be used by scammers as recruitment ground.