Central Bank of Myanmar warns of online scams

The Central Bank of Myanmar released a notification on 28 June that it will take legal actions against the online scammers and swindlers under the name of Gold T 6 Facebook Page, conducting a boiler room scheme to defraud investors to put their money into nonexistent assets.
In accordance with the provisions stipulated in the Central Bank of Myanmar Law and Financial Institutions Law, the CBM has issued banking licences to four state-owned banks, 27 private banks and 20 foreign bank branches. Those entities need to follow the provisions in providing banking services including accepting saving deposits.
Nonetheless, as per the section 158 and 163 of the Financial Institution Law, an individual or some companies are found to be violating the rules; No bank shall engage in banking without licence and no one can accept the saving money without licence. The swindlers are running boiler room operations to deceive the people with the promise of a high rate of interest for their worthless investments, the CBM’s statement mentioned.
The scammers using the Gold T 6 or Gold T 6 Trading page on social media platforms are using false information to convince the investors in nonexistent real estate, gold assets and foreign currency trading. They displayed legitimate looking investment advertisements on their social media page, misinforming cooperation with the CBM in order to trap the investors.
This being so, the CBM warned of online scams offering incentives and promising higher interest rate return. The authorized banks offer nine per cent interest rate per annum yet the swindlers give six per cent per day. The public needs to be aware of those fake advertisements with incentives.
The CBM will take legal actions against those involved in online fraud under the Facebook page of Gold T 6 and Gold T 6 Trading under the section 158, 163, 171 and 172 of the Financial Institution Law.
The CBM will step up investigation and prosecuting market manipulation in the local forex market and crack down on online scammers with incentives and deception scheme to take advantage on investors and illegal financial service operators under the provisions stipulated in the Financial Institution Law, the Anti-Money Laundering Law, the Foreign Exchange Management Law and the existing laws.
Under the guidance of the Monitoring and Steering Committee on Gold and Currency Market, the Central Bank of Myanmar clamped down on 50 individuals and three companies involved in the foreign exchange market manipulation and illegal money transfer service in Yangon and Mandalay cities, according to its notification on 23 June. — NN/EM