Scams

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY – SCAMS abound like fake jobs offered online that the Dept. of Labor and Employment warned overseas jobseekers against these.
    The DOLE issued the warning after the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Spain received reports about an online job offer for a cashier position at a fruit farm with a salary of 6,000 euros.
    Madrid-based labor attaché Joan Lourdes Lavilla advised applicants to be careful in grabbing job offers abroad.
    “Scammers use the names of legitimate companies and when you look at the job offer, it is usually too good to be true.     They give only mobile numbers. One tip is to check the given address using Google maps because sometimes there is no actual structure or company,” Lavilla said.
    Another indication of a scam, she said, is when an applicant is required to send money to an individual through a remittance center.
    To verify the legitimacy of job offers, the DOLE said applicants may visit the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration website.
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Last week, the Philippine National Police also warned the public against “love scam” carried out by foreign and local extortionists following the arrest of two Nigerians who allegedly blackmailed a businesswoman for P400,000.  Some Baguio folks were actually victimized here recently by again – Nigerians.
    PNP chief Gen. Guillermo Eleazar said the scam has become rampant on social media platforms. Eleazar said scammers lure people into affinity and use personal information they obtained to blackmail victims for cash.
    “In some cases, the suspects are Filipinos pretending to be foreigners. But foreigners also carry out these illegal activities,” he said.
    Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation recently arrested Nigerians Felix Aondowaase and Emmanuel Abia in Cavite for allegedly extorting $8,000 from a businesswoman.
    The suspects allegedly used a fake Australian man’s social media account to entice the victim and asked her to send intimate photos, which they used to extort cash.
    Police arrested Filipino accomplices of the suspects during an entrapment operation.
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There are many forms of online scams, like those that entice people to invest, or purchase products that turn out fake.
    This writer ordered online an electric guitar two months ago. What arrived was a plastic toy guitar. 
    Lately, there was this story about an online “girlfriend” making rounds in social media befriending men, borrowing cash from them, 
and leaving them with only a Facebook account address.
    A story by Faith Argocillo bared the modus operandi: This started with a young man who related how a “girlfriend” had earned his trust but left him with a debt of more than P6,000.  
    He seemed to be an isolated case, a case of cyber love.  It was soon found out two other men had the same experience with the same woman.  The two men told their sad stories on their Facebook accounts.
    Here’s the story of these three young men.  

Franz, 24, a resident of Bulacan, said he lost more than P6,000 to a love interest he met in an international online broadcasting application called “LiveMe.”

  He developed what to him seemed like a genuine friendship, with a 29-year old local female streamer who started as his “supporter.”  Slowly she gained his trust.
“She started to support my live broadcasts through gifts. These gifts were jewelry which I converted to cash. That’s how she gained my trust,” Franz said.

The two became close online friends, talking on social media frequently.  Soon they developed a casual mutual understanding. Franz thought their relationship leveled up when the female streamer asked him to keep her e-cash of P10,000.

“I trusted her more after she entrusted both her money and her Gmail account for safekeeping,” he said.

Although their relationship did not have a “label,” Franz said he felt the sincerity of the female streamer in between their virtual interactions.

However, when he started to earn as a broadcaster, the girl began to borrow money from him.

“At first, she borrowed some load, then she borrowed P2,500, until it became P6,000 plus,” he said.

Franz admitted he did not notice the girl started to avoid him, and avoided the subject of paying him.

“She would set the date of her payment. And then it did not come.  It became a cycle, until she became cold. She would even throw a fit every time I gave the impression that I won’t be able to lend her money,” he said.

When his love interest suddenly “ghosted” him, it took a while before Franz accepted that he had been betrayed, or likely gypped.

Later, he discovered posts about the female streamer who uses different social media accounts to scam other men.

One of the guys who posted about the same scammer was Elias, a 22-year old Manila resident. Elias said he met the same girl in an online gaming community.

“I’m a founder of Mobile Legends (ML) esports community, she applied as a manager. She called me frequently, but I didn’t return the calls because I was not interested in talking to her, not unless it’s about the esports community,” he said..
Elias narrated how persistent the scammer was. 

There was a time when she desperately called him asking for money.

“Kinukulit ako, then one time tumawag ulit, she’s crying, tapos sabi niya na scam daw sya ng P20,000. Tapos gusto mangutang sakin. 

Hindi ko siya pinahiram ng pera kasi malaki yung hinihiram niya and besides hindi kami magkakilala personally (She was so persistent in calling me until one day she called, and she was
crying. She said that she had been scammed and lost P20,000. 

She was borrowing money from me but I didn’t lend her because I don’t know her personally),” he said.

According to Elias, he brushed the incident aside.  But one day, she volunteered to pay for the jersey prize of their community’s “monthsary” tournament. 

The prize was worth P3,000.“She said that she would pay for the jersey prize of the tournament because it’s our community’s monthsary. She asked me to pay for it first, but she didn’t pay me back. When I asked for the money, she suddenly became cold towards the community,” Elias said in Pilipino.

Like Franz, Elias researched about the girl and discoveredthat she’s a scammer through other posts. Elias posted a thread about her, tagging other victims and posting screenshots of his conversations with the girl.
Another victim of the same female scammer was Kiel, a 28-year old Quezon City resident.  He also posted about the same girl. 

According to him, the scammer was a friend’s ex-girlfriend and she had tried to borrowed P10,000 from 
him.

“She borrowed money and told me that any amount will do because she’s going to pay for her rent balance. I gave her P1,000. 

When I asked for the money back to pay for my bills, she ignored my messages, so I posted about her; 1,000 is still 1,000. It’s a small amount, but it’s still money,” Kiel said.Both Elias and Kiel received messages from other victims who reacted to their experience with the same scammer. Apparently, the girl uses the same tactics with the other guys  she befriends them, borrows money from them, and vanishes.

So, for those who have not yet met this female scammer who is Wandering around cyberspace visiting social media sites, be warned.