7 Reasons Why Filipinos Get Scammed

Many Filipinos experience a shortage of funds. In fact, running out of budget in a month is a scene that’s not unfamiliar to a few individuals in the country.

The minimum income of an average Filipino is about 8,000 to 15,000 pesos a month, depending on the area where they’re working. That may seem like an okay kind of salary range to someone with no responsibilities, however, there are fixed expenses that need to be paid every month– rent, utility bills, and most importantly food.

Can you imagine how much money will be left after deducting all those from the paycheck?

Given the low income and high expenses, it’s no wonder people are finding it difficult to manage their budget. This is why you see a lot of Filipinos trying to juggle two to three jobs to make ends meet. And, unfortunately, one of the reasons why investment scams run rampant, taking advantage of the naive and the desperate.

Hence, here are seven reasons why most Filipinos get scammed.

1. Wanting to get RICH Quickly

Filipinos are globally known as hardworking individuals. No matter what life may throw at us, we still manage to get up on our feet and work our way out. Doing our best–sometimes even pushing ourselves over our limits–to achieve the goals and dreams that we have for ourselves and our families.

People dream of relaxing in their old age. Of having our own houses and our luxury cars. We dream of our families living the good life. We imagine ourselves just relaxing somewhere with enough money to spend that we don’t need to wake up early to rush to work. We hope to live without concerning ourselves with the bills and, of course, to be able to buy the things that we like whenever we want.

However, the reality is often different from the ideal. And we realize that no matter how much we work, we are still too far from our goals to achieve them in this lifetime. Not unless we add other sources of income–like making an investment.

While investing one’s money is a good move, doing so with the thought of getting the income right away could push Filipinos to get into unreliable “investment” opportunities.

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Flowery words and promises of a high return within a few weeks or months’ time might be tempting, but if you’re unsure about the means as to how that return is going to come to fruition and if you’re uncertain about the organization offering it to you, then you’re risking your hard-earned savings for something that might not be real.

2. Enticed by High Returns

High return in a short span of time can be very enticing to the ears. Have you ever encountered someone offering an investment with over 150% return in a short amount of time? Tempting, right? Many are overwhelmed with the high guaranteed returns. Especially if they provide “proof” of cash-out, gadgets received and fun travels to international destinations.

Human as we are, we’re weak to temptations. Sadly, defrauders know this well. And worse, they’re adept at creating beautiful scenarios that you dream of, and talking their way into making all that you want seem “easily possible” through them.

If you get hooked, and you give your money to them, the next thing you know, you’ll find your bank account short of the amount of cash you handed over, disappointed at the outcome, and back to working hard to earn the money that you lost.

3. Always Want it the Easy Way

Who doesn’t, right? It’ll be awesome if we can have what we want with ease!

But, that’s not always the case. Most of us know that earning money requires hard work and perseverance. Oftentimes, if somebody offers you a proposal to earn a sum of money, but in exchange for time and hard work, there’s a high chance of people backing out. A lot of us want the easy way in and, the same goes for investing.

Different investments have different levels of risk–some low, some high. Most of the time, the lower the risk of the investment, the lower the percentage of return. And the higher risk, the higher the possible return will be.

Putting your money on high-risk investments isn’t bad. Just make sure that you know and understand what you’re getting into to protect yourself from scammers.

4. Fear of Missing out (FOMO)

Posting on social media is one way of expressing the joys of achievement and success. People are attracted to beautiful pictures of an ideal life, and some bearing ill intent take advantage of this. For instance, travel and life goals are posted by self-proclaimed investment gurus claiming that it’s the result of their investment on a certain platform. This attracts the eyes and behold, another temptation to jump into an uncertain bandwagon!

The Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is a common ailment. “Everybody’s doing it, so I should do it too!”.

Beware. Things that are getting hyped with no concrete background or fundamentals often result to scam.

5. Scarcity Mindset and “How” Mentality

Have you ever seen “Limited slots only”, “valid for a period of time”, or “comment HOW to know more” on social media posts? Familiar, right? This is an effective way to attract potential buyers or investors. Moreover, the strategy leads people to let others explain the offer to them without actually getting real information.

Combined with a large number of comments, it entices the crowd to buy “now”. Well, just like the FOMO mindset, being afraid of missing out, can lead to bad decisions.

6. Trusting too much

Scam investments spread like the virus.  We often see posts on Facebook groups, or even from our friends, colleagues, and family. Some of us still use word of mouth as the basis for a good investment.

Many pyramid schemes flourish because of the trust given to those who didn’t know any better. Trusting others is okay, but if you’re making an investment, blindly trusting someone could lead you to lose your money.

7. Lack of Financial Knowledge

Schools and universities teach the basics, but we rarely get lessons about financial literacy. And this lack of financial knowledge is one of the reasons why a lot of people bite into scammy offers.

A large number of individuals prefer to skip the basics, ignoring the stuff they need to know to protect themselves from fraud, hoping to make their money work for them in the quickest way possible. But what seems to be the fastest route usually isn’t the easiest. Shortcuts oftentimes come with great risk, and if you don’t know what you’re getting into, you might find yourself walking in circles, uncertain about where you’re heading, and eventually losing your hard-earned cash.

So, before you start investing, make sure you have enough knowledge.

Investing is a good choice. Making your money work for you, is the way to achieving your goals. Just make sure you understand what the investment is all about and how you can grow your money from it. In short, don’t stop learning. Want to know more about investment, send us a message today!

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