A networking company operating from Zamboanga del Sur has been charged after being flagged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for allegedly engaging in an illegal financial scheme, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI)-Northern Mindanao said Saturday.

NBI- Northern Mindanao said syndicated estafa charges were filed against Jocals688 Beauty and Wellness Products Trading Inc. (Jocals688) at the City Prosecutor’s Office on Friday.

Based on its promotional materials, the company is into selling health products but would entice its members to invest with the promise of bigger returns, according to investigations of the SEC and NBI-Northern Mindanao.

Jocal688’s principal headquarters is based in Molave, Zamboanga del Sur, but the firm has many branches nationwide.

Patricio Bernales Jr., NBI-Northern Mindanao regional director, said some of the members of Jocals688 have sought the bureau’s help since October this year.

Bernales said Jocals688 was allegedly offering huge payouts by as much as 30 percent or more to members.

“Eventually, it came to the point that the company can no longer afford to pay its investors the promised amount prompting them to file a complaint,” Bernales said.

He said more members of Jocals688 are expected to come forward to file charges against the networking company.

Earlier this year, Jocals688 was on the SEC’s radar following its issuance of a cease and desist order after the agency found out that the company has been engaged in illegal investment-taking activities.

In August this year,  SEC directed Jocals688 to “limit its operation to the sale its registered products and to desist from implementing the ‘Buy and Earn Program’ which constitutes offering, soliciting and selling of securities in the nature of investment contracts until a Registration Statement has been filed and approved by the Commission.”

“The [cease and desist order] still stand as to investment taking activities. The resumption of their business is only premised upon the condition that only and purely selling of their products will be undertaken,” Renato Egypto, SEC director for Northern Mindanao and Caraga regions, said of Jocals688’s status, in a text message to the media.

One of the complainants, who requested not to be named, said Jocals688 still owes him P300,000.

In a comment he made on a post on Facebook that discussed the charges filed against his company last week, Joshua Calderon, Jocals688 chief executive officer, said it was expected that people would press charges.

“It’s normal that there are those who complain because they don’t know the status of the company. It’s also normal for the court to entertain these complaints. Let the court decide,” he said in a mix of Cebuano and English. CURRENTPH