SEC and PNP sign joint agreement to fight against online investment scams

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) have formally joined forces to shield the investing public from a rising wave of digital financial crimes and deceptive online schemes across Central Luzon.

This partnership was recently cemented through a signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the SEC Tarlac Extension Office (TAREO) and the PNP’s Regional Anti-Cybercrime Unit 3 (RACU 3). Falling under the regulatory umbrella of the SEC’s Communication, Advocacy, and Network (SEC-CAN) campaign, the partnership aims to bridge the gap between regulatory oversight and ground-level cyber-enforcement.

According to TAREO Director Richard Laus, the alliance is a necessary move to pool resources and technical expertise. The goal is to aggressively increase public awareness and provide provincial communities with the digital literacy required to spot and avoid predatory financial schemes before they take hold.

The sentiment was echoed by RACU 3 Chief Col. Miguel Guzman, who stressed that cross-agency data sharing is becoming critical as online fraudsters are now using increasingly sophisticated methods. Guzman noted that the collaboration will actively sharpen cybersecurity enforcement while safeguarding the financial and corporate ecosystem across Region 3’s provinces.

Under the operational agreement, both bureaus are slated to roll out a series of joint seminars, technical training modules, and public consultations. These initiatives will target everyday internet users, casual investors, and local communities, focusing heavily on identifying unverified peer-to-peer lending apps and fraudulent high-yield investment traps proliferating on local social media channels.

Efforts on certain crackdowns have already been implemented, especially as of late. The SEC shut down Riscoin, a cryptocurrency scam soliciting investments just this month. This was preceded by the entrapment of Laguna-based scam investment group “Royal Kingdom of Maharlika” that was also able to sell the dreams of easy money to several Filipinos.

As such, this timely and essential signing ceremony was officially witnessed by Securities Counsel II Charito Bañez-Santiago and PNP Master Sergeant Mark Joseph Pesigan, marking a proactive, structural step toward reinforcing public trust and digital consumer safety in the region.