BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is urging victims of a rice investment scam in this city to come out and file complaints with their office.
Atty. Renoir Baldovino, NBI-Bacolod head, said they counted more than 100 individuals victimized.
Baldovino revealed that the NBI has filed charges of syndicated estafa against Krizia Gonzaga, Jennifer Nierves and three other companions, all residents of this city, before the City Prosecutor’s Office last week.
Baldovino said 30 have filed complaints before the NBI after being scammed. The amount involved reached P40 million.
Gonzaga and Nierves were considered as principal suspects, said Baldovino.
The NBI official also said some of the victims invested about P10 million, and the lowest, P300,000. They were promised earnings of between 10 percent to 300 percent.
The suspects, according to Baldovino, claimed they have five rice warehouses in Bacolod and were allegedly supplying rice as far as Negros Oriental.
The suspects have no business permit from the city government and no registration from the Securities and Exchange (SEC), said Baldovino.
One of the victims, Mia Yosores, told reporters she initially invested P500,000 and got a return of P75,000 every three days, as promised by the suspects.
This convinced her to invest an additional P450,000 but she never got the additional promised return on investment (ROI).
Yosores said she only got a total of P300,000 as ROI.
Baldovino said some of the victims were still hoping to recoup their money./PN
