It could have been the effect of the 2008 Legacy scam duped at least 130,000 bank depositors in Central Visayas of P24 billion that prevented Dumaguetenos and Negrenses from falling victim to the Aman Ventures’ recent P12 billion scam.
Ed Du, president of the Negros Oriental Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that so far, they have not heard of any Aman Ventures business that operated in Dumaguete.
Aman Ventures, said to be owned by a Malaysian national married to a Filipina, duped thousands of depositors of P12 billion. Most of the victims are from Mindanao, especially in Pagadian City, where it all started.
“From what we heard, the Aman Ventures was operating only in Mindanao,” Du said.
He, however, said there may be some businessmen here who were duped by Aman Ventures’ lure of instant wealth but would rather keep quiet than report to authorities.
Dumaguete City Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria, on the other hand, ordered an investigation to check for any local activity involving Aman Ventures.
“So far, we have not found any trace of this illegal activity,” said City Legal Officer Neil Ray Lagahit.
Lagahit said that the City started its investigation after news started to spread about the scam.
So far, one retired public school teacher in Mindanao committed suicide after losing all his money to the scammers. News reports also said that in Lanao del Sur, four relatives of an Aman Ventures official were kidnapped in an attempt to force him to return the money they collected from unsuspecting victims. There have also been reports that some Aman Ventures agents were killed by irate victims.
The National Bureau of Investigation is also looking into reports that several local government units may have lost money after they invested in this scam.