The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has posted on its official website (www.sec.gov.ph) several advisories, as well as an investment scam checklist, warning the public about several illegal investment-taking activities already taking place in Visayas and Mindanao. These are collective efforts of SEC to advise the public to be more cautious in light of the rampant Ponzi schemes and/or alleged investment schemes circulating publicly and online. The SEC advisories pertain to both registered and unregistered entities. Registered entities are those registered with the SEC although not authorized to solicit investment from the public as they have not secured the necessary secondary license or permit from the commission, as required under Republic Act No. 8799, or the Securities Regulation Code (SRC). Unregistered entities, on the other hand, are those neither registered as a corporation or as a partnership with the SEC nor issued secondary licenses as brokers and/or dealers of securities, dealers in government securities, investment advisers of an investment company, investment houses and transfer agents. Authorities like us at the SEC recognize the manifold effects that Ponzi schemes may potentially offer and promise to its new investors. However, both the SEC as regulator and the public must remain vigilant of these schemes that come with potential risks and red flags, causing the public to invest their hard-earned money for nothing.