The public is advised to be vigilant and not misled by fraudulent activities, schemes of deposits, loans, investments launched by certain fake companies and non-corporate entities.
Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and State Bank of Pakistan in its awareness campaign has advised people to be prudent while making any investments and to verify that the entity they are dealing with is duly authorized and licensed by the relevant authority to carry on its business.
The list of entities licensed by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) is available at their respective websites for verification.
The modus operandi of such fake schemes is being explained briefly for the benefit of public as follows: – Employment Scams in which the job applicants are asked to pay some amount on one pretext or another along with job application.
— Scams in the form of lottery schemes, which attract people to earn wealth overnight through wagering. They make billions and give advertisements of people receiving prizes to attract more people. In reality, the winners are just actors for the advertisement.
— Real estate schemes and projects soliciting investors to purchase properties in the country by promising high gains and abroad by promising residency permits as well. The projects/properties exist only on paper. After obtaining sufficient funds from investors they disappear.
— Deposit schemes in which the general public is promised unusually high profit mark-up. They give assurance of deposit safety and guarantee regular high profits.
For some time they pay profit regularly. Once they have accumulated enough deposits, they disappear.
— Loan schemes in which they promise loans of huge amounts for any purpose on easy terms.
They ask borrowers to fill forms, pay certain fees and then keep telling them that they have submitted their
case to a bank and will get it soon. In this way, they get a lot of prospective borrowers to pay fees and make a lot of money.
— Introducing brokers of foreign brokerage houses, a type of business not covered under local laws.
These concerns offer their services to clients in return for heavy fees. Most of the clients lose all of their hard earned money without any legal
cover. They use bogus trading software to cheat their investors.
— Multi Level Marketing, ponzi and pyramid schemes requiring new customers to bring certain number of more
members in geometric progression.
The process of membership reaches a stage of saturation when the whole structure collapses and only a few people at the top of the scheme make money.
Some companies also use this technique in the guise of sales strategy to sell otherwise unmarketable products at exorbitant prices.
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