Encounter with Swissfranc.com: How to Spot an Internet Scam
Posted Saturday, July 7th, 2007 6:42 pm by Edwin "ka edong" Soriano
Viewed 4335 times | Related entries: Tech News, e/m-Commerce
I first heard of Swissfranc.com on June 5. This week, I realized the gravity of the scam: 1 Billion Pesos lost by innocent Filipino investors! In this article, I describe how some financial common sense, some use of technology sleuthing and some Internet research could help people make a more informed decision about investments.
My first encounter with Swissfranc.com was an email forwarded to me by my friend Queenie (more details on eOFW):
Sino nga ba sa inyo naghahanap ng investment?
Kung may 1K USD kayo, kesa matulog, invest nyo na
sa www.francswiss.us. 4.5% daily and in 23 days bawi.Kung interested kayo, please tell me.
Thanks and best regards,
Jhoy L. Inasal
Manager, Innovator, AB BU QC STD
Tip number 1: If it’s too good to be true, it’s probably not true.
Tip number 2: Find out: “Where is the wealth coming from?”
Tip number 3: Who/what companies are behind this unbelievable investment?
This is where the technology sleuthing comes into play.
I investigated the website indicated in the e-mail. I was looking for the identities behind the website, looking for endorsements from finance establishments / banks. I was looking for a track record.
From their website, I didn’t find any of the above. When I didn’t find any realistic contact info, I stopped and concluded that it was a scam.
But to dig further, here’s another trick that anyone can do with some web savvy: Whois (www.networksolutions.com/whois/) .
To own a domain name, people are required to submit business or personal information. These are public records, public information that can be found on the internet. Here’s the result of a Whois search for www.francswiss.us:
GoDaddy is a domain name re-seller, and their contact info was used to registered website. Basically, the real owners of francswiss.us DO NOT want the public to know who they are. How can you trust an investment company which is hiding their identity?
Those are some tech tips to help people verify the legitimacy of an internet investment.
What else does it take for Filipinos to be less suceptible to scams like this?
ka edong
imbestigador
More on the francswiss internet scam.
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12 Responses to “Encounter with Swissfranc.com: How to Spot an Internet Scam”
might be same as GlobalAmerika.us?
Could you please investigate on this as well? My brother is totally wanting to join this and I don’t trust the site.
mr nice ash,
Ask the same questions. Where is the wealth coming from? Who/What companies are behind GlobalAmerika.us ?
C’mon, you can do it
ka edong
unfortunately, we don’t seem to have an efficient alert systems for scams like this. and i thought we have learned from those pyramid scams before.
[...] Edong talked about the recently busted Francswiss pyramid scam here and here. A month ago, a good friend of mine has invited me to invest. My first reaction: “this is a [...]
i heard of months before it erupted in the media, being a HYIP investor long before (dealing with $1-$5 only) i frequent sites like http://www.pinoymoneytalk.com, talkgold.com, etc to check for scam regarding investing
Basically any scheme that is too good to be true, matakot na. I really feel sorry for those who were duped by francswiss.
ang napansin ko lang not only to pinoys but other races as well, especially on my salescall, whether i know them or just known them, once they have heard the benefit, they tend to forget to ask the what, when, where, why and especially, the how.
It doesn’t take a genius to spot pyramid scams. At 4% interest per day, we would all be richer than Bill Gates in no time. In fact why doesn’t the government ban so-called legitimate MLM schemes altogether. Amway is a scam, First Quadrant is a scam, Multitel is a scam. They are all just variations of the pyramid con-game that has been replayed over and over again for over a century.
uh, the first comment is incorrect. Amway is not a scam. And it’s been around for about 60 years. I am not a distributor for or connected in anyway to Amway, except that I am in the legitimate network marketing industry.
Other legitimate businesses in the industry include Herbalife, Avon, NuSkin, FLP, …
The ones which are scams are the local ones like FQ, Legacy, i-Gen, — basically anything that sells shoes and bags for 9000 pesos and requires you to get more people to do the same for a bunch of lousy products you can get yourself at divisoria or 168 for half the price.
David
i was one who is a victim of the globalamerika .us .my account was disappeared a few days ago. i dont know whom im going to ask where to get the information regarding my lost account. i want that my account will be back as soon as possible. please to the one incharge for this business answer me. give me back my momey or accont. thanks so much.
how can i withdraw my money in the global amerika. us? i want my investment be back as early as possible. i need it in my schooling for my tuition fees. please i need your action in this matter immediately.
how can i withdraw my money in the global amerika. us? i want my investment be back as early as possible. i need it in my schooling for my tuition fees. please i need your action in this matter immediately.
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