The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has lodged criminal complaints against four groups soliciting investments from the public without the necessary registration and licenses.

In a statement, the SEC said has lodged separate complaints before the Department of Justice against Bear Mountain World, Inc., Beyond Skin Care Ventures, Inc., SCET Colleens Corporation, and Great 4 International Marketing Corporation for violating several provisions of The Securities Regulation Code (SRC).

The complaints implicated the respective incorporators and officers of the entities.

The SRC prohibits the sale or distribution of securities without a registration duly filed and approved by the Commission. Persons found guilty of the provisions of the SRC shall suffer a fine of up to P5 million, or imprisonment of up to 21 years, or both.

Bear Mountain was found to be offering investments with a guaranteed monthly income of 20 percent to 30 percent of the amount invested in three years.

Beyond Skin Care Ventures, doing business under the name Dermacare Face Body and Laser Center, supposedly enticed the public to invest in its franchise partnership agreement for a promise of receiving a guaranteed return equivalent to 12.6 percent interest every quarter for a period of five years, with complimentary salon services.

Great 4 International Marketing Corporation, operating under the business name and style Home Organic Wellness, disseminated to the public leaflets, brochures and marketing paraphernalia offering a guaranteed monthly income equal to 14.4 percent of the amount invested in 18 months.

The group also used a marketing scheme for selling motorcycles to incentivize and lure more investors to participate and join its programs.

SCET Colleens Corporation was found to be offering investments ranging from P3,800 to P1.08 million, with a return on investment supposedly from five percent to eight percent per month.

The corporations were primarily found to have solicited investments from the public without the proper license from the SEC, in violation of Sections 8, 26, and 28 of the SRC.

Section 8 and 28 of the SRC provides that securities shall not be sold or offered for sale without a registration statement duly filed and approved by the Commission, and expressly prohibits the sale of such securities by a company or broker without the proper registration and licenses issued by the SEC.

Meanwhile, Section 26 makes it unlawful for any person to employ any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud the public in connection with the same of securities. 

Persons found guilty of the provisions of the SRC shall suffer a fine of up to P5 million, or imprisonment of up to 21 years, or both.

All four corporations have previously been registered with the SEC as corporations. However, none of them have secured the necessary secondary license that would allow them to offer securities to the public.

The EIPD has already revoked the corporate registrations of SCET Colleens and Beyond Skin Care Ventures on February 23, 2023 and November 7, 2023, respectively.