CAGAYAN de Oro City Councilor George Goking is planning to create an Anti-Scam body to help raise awareness of the investment scams prevalent in Cagayan de Oro.
Goking, the chairperson of the committee on trade and commerce said there are 5 alleged investment scams monitored in the city and continue to operate and lure people into investing.
To verify this report, he said a body shall be created that will handle complaints.
This week, Goking said he will call on the city's department heads and come up with a plan on how to regulate seminars initiated by unscrupulous groups on foreign exchange trading and cryptocurrencies.
"We will also call on COHARA (Cagayan de Oro Hotel and Restaurant Association) to inform them of these groups na dili careful dapat sa pagdawat ani nila," he said.
"We will try to look for solutions and prevent our people from being victimized," he added.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Northern Mindanao has earlier requested that the city government should regulate groups conducting seminars and lectures on cryptocurrencies and foreign exchange trading as this might be used by scammers to recruit individuals.
SEC-Northern Mindanao regional director lawyer Renato Egypto said the deception usually start in these seminars with the scammers posing as experts and newly minted millionaires.
He said a clearance should enable the government to filter which groups are fake and which groups are legitimate and registered before the SEC and alert hotels where they usually hold these seminars.
The recent investment group in Cagayan de Oro which SEC alleged was an investment scam was Mark Freeman's group. The group continue their operations despite the red flag advisory of the SEC that Freeman's group had no right to solicit investments.
Egypto said they are still waiting for a cease and desist order from its national office to put an end to Freeman's group.