My daughter forwarded to us a link to an article that appeared on the online news site bilyonaryo.com.
It’s about a 25-year old boy from Ateneo de Manila University who enticed his classmates and friends to invest in Bitcoin and other digital currencies to the tune of more than two hundred million pesos. Long story short, his investors lost their money and the boy, named Benjamin, did too. As in all investment pyramids, hundreds, sometimes even thousands believe that they will earn several folds from the money they put in. It always ends in sorrow.
This is exactly what happened to my son. He was lured by three boys to invest in several businesses (maybe non-existent) with the promise of a 10% instant return and every month thereof. He was then encouraged to invite others in. My son’s classmates, friends, got wind of what seemed like a quick and very easy way of earning tons of money so they too jumped in. Those who collected the money from my son and his friends stopped paying them the interest in just a few months. My son, who continued to believe in the promises of the 3 that he would get all his money back including those of his friends, hang on to that promise. He was always told that they regarded my son as their own brother. In the meantime, he was forced to borrow and guarantee the loans thinking that in just a few months, the three guys would eventually pay him back all the money they owed him. This is a movie with a very sad ending. Not only did my son continue to borrow money, but he also continued to believe what they were telling him. Continue investing in them otherwise, my son would not be able to recover his previous investments.
If there’s a high-level budol-budol gang, this could qualify. As if my son was under their spell. He had very high respect for the twin brothers and for his friend Peter. Even when they had already stopped paying my son back, Nyke continued to hang on to their promises. Up to the last minute he was still in denial that they would never pay him back. Until now, he never said anything bad about those three. And as a parent myself, I could only wonder how their parents were also feeling. They must have been dead worried too. We didn’t even run after them. They gave Nyke inches-high bounced checks but we didn’t bother collecting from them. We didn’t sue them. On the contrary, I wished them well. I am a mother too and I wish for their safety and good health.
We always hear and read sad stories similar to these. It’s very common in the Philippines. And even here in the United States, in Italy, in Mexico, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc. people lose their hard-earned money to the promise of earning big bucks quickly without any hard work. The stories only have sad endings.
It’s been six years since we discovered that my son was victimized bigtime. It was a slow recovery process accepting that not all people are good and trustworthy. Not all friends have good intentions. The most difficult part is the emotional and psychological recovery from the trauma.
It’s easy to say when you fall, get up, and hope you don’t fall into the same trap again. But sometimes we commit the same mistakes over again.
And don’t ever think that all your friends are true friends. My son found that out too late. Even until now, the person he thought was his one true friend turned out to be his enemy. Until now, that boy still wanted to collect more money from my son even if he knew that my son was scammed. Even if he knew from the beginning the risks they were all taking. Even if he already got back the total amount. He was still expecting to receive 7% a month interest from my son. It’s sad to think that my son had very high respect for this person. Akala nya best friend nya. Akala ng anak ko mabait at hindi magsisinungaling.
I am sharing our family ordeal with the hope that you, my dear readers, will learn something from my stories. I hope you believe me when I tell you that you could lose all of your money. If you want to go ahead, make sure the money you will part with is something you can afford to lose completely.
No crying, no blaming, no getting mad at yourself, no getting angry at those who collected money from you.
The four losers were never friends of your son.They are simply predators and he must sue the three stooges or else he is signaling to other future sharks that it is open season to victimize your son since there will be no consequences.He will be preyed on again and again till the last centavo.
The fourth frenemy reminds me of Bernie Madoff clients who already got initial money back but wanted more…Nyke is too kind and naive for his own good.He must cut that jerk completely NOW!PRONTO!Even if he piles on doctorate degrees but will still continue to be trusting and “kumbaya”the attacks will never stop.The vultures smell his blood.No more nice guy Nyke.It is a dog eat dog world.Situational awareness and self-preservation is needed in order to survive or you will be carcass.
Dear Gia,
Yes, they were never friends of Nyke. Unfortunately, he only found out too late. They targeted him for many reasons.
You are right. It’s a dog-eat-dog world. Vultures abound when they smell blood. It’s amazing how people turn into vampires.
What goes around comes around.. I believe in KARMA & it will happen to those scammers out there. Just wait & see..
GREED is also common to a lot of people out there. They must not know that, they are just passing thru this lifetime. That they can’t bring their wealth once their contract expires!
One thing for sure, there is judgement day!
When I first read it in this blog, my heart bled for you, tita, and Nyke. I know he’s a nice guy, he did not deserve that predicament. The Yee family is too nice not to run after those thieves. I hope Nyke recovers the money.
Dear Ken,
Thank you for the nice words. Nakakahinayang ang mga itinapon na pera, parang inihulog sa kanal.
Mr. Yee and I believe that if you lose money because of something like this, God has a way of giving it back as long as you remain good persons. It may not always be in the form of money but maybe some good things will happen to your family.
i myself got scammed by people i trusted. bad business decision. my wife and i lost a lot. a lot talaga. my wife was waking up crying because money we worked hard for was lost, and what was supposed to be our savings were also used to cover up debts that were unfortunately incurred not by us but those who scammed us. as the head of the family it was really hard to accept but there was no choice but to move on — though hard. I also believed that money will be recovered in whatever form as long as you do not fool others. the Lord has always been good to us eversince. we are still recovering from that loss 8 years ago, but we are fortunate to have family support us, and were also blessed with good jobs to slowly recuperate again.
Dear Marc,
I feel sorry that you too lost a lot of money from investment schemes. I know firsthand how painful it is to be in that situation. For the first 4 months of discovery that Nyke had been scammed, I cried every single day. Not cry, not weep, wail talaga. Wahhhhhhh! It was sooo difficult for me to manage my anger. I was angry at my son but after I understood what he went thru and was still going thru, my anger was replaced with compassion and understanding. But occasionally, I still feel mad. I just couldn’t help it.
What you’ve lost will come back in many other forms. Continue to be good. And never entrust anyone na with your money.
it was a lesson learned though in the hardest wat, Ms. Annie, but my wife and I are now able to look back and thank the Lord for helping us recover somehow. we are still recovering, but are now in a much better place than we were during those dark times 🙂 God is good all the time Ms. Annie 🙂 and we are still very thankful that although slowly, we are now able to bounce back. and yes, now more careful with money. thank you for the wise words 🙂
We also feel that way. We feel we are in a much better place. We discovered our strengths and weaknesses. We realized we had something we didn’t know we have. I still shed tears every now and then though. I could see in the mirror and photos what stress added to my wrinkles. It sped up my aging process. Basta kayo, when someone approaches you na too good to be true, wag na lang. Be conservative with your money never mind if it doesn’t earn a lot. We don’t have to be super wealthy to enjoy life. Be content and focus on your well being and your family. #choosetobegood
This still makes me sad everytime I hear this. I wonder how those people sleep at night.
If at a young age, they’re very capable of doing such things, how about when they get older? What else can they do? What else can they steal? How many people are they going to harm?
Many people are so shrewed that when they extract money from other people, they feel proud of themselves because they think that’s being smart. They don’t look at it as being BAD persons.