Death threats and scams

BEHIND THE SCENES

 Alfred P. Dizon

BAGUIO CITY – I’ve had my share of threats all these years as a newsman and just shrugged these off as part of the job. But what happened last Monday was unnerving. I started the day doing the rounds when I got a call from an unknown number around a quarter to 11 a.m.
    “Mr. Dizon, makinig ka ng mabuti at importante ito (Mr. Dizon, listen carefully since this is very important),” the male caller said in an authoritative voice as cold as steel. His voice sounded like he was in his 50’s. I asked him what it was all about. He said I had to listen carefully as it concerned my life and my family. Since I was talking to somebody, I told him I will get back to him.
    It was a busy day and I did not think much about it, so when all the chores were done, I texted him late afternoon asking about the matter since I was intrigued. He immediately called. “Makinig ka ng mabuti (Listen very carefully),” he repeated what he said.
    I asked him who he was. “Ako ay isa sa mga head ng mga gun-for-hire dito sa Davao. May kumontak sa akin na ipatumba ka. May usapan na kami ng tao kung magkano, pero, nung bandang huli, sabi nya na isali ang pamilya mo. Hindi na kaya ng kunsensya ko na gawin yun dahil nagawa ko na at hanggang ngayun, binabagabag pa rin ako ng konsensya ko.”
    (I am the head of one of the gun-for-hire groups here in Davao. Somebody contacted me, saying he wanted you killed. We had an agreement how much to get the job done. But later, my contact said he also wanted your family killed. My conscience could not make me do it anymore, since I did it before and my conscience is still bothering me).
    I asked him what he planned to do next it that was the case. “Hindi na kami nagkabayaraan at nagkalabuan. Pero napadala ko na yung apat na kasama ko jan sa Baguio na tatrabaho sana sa iyo. Anjan pa sila sa Baguio. Ang gusto ko na lang, uuwi na lang sila dito sa Davao. Ang problema, wala sila pamasahe at panggastos pabalik dito. Kung puede sana bigyan mu na lang sila ng panggastos. Gawin mo ito sa kapakanan mo at ng pamilya mo. Huwag mong sabihin kanino man”
    (The payment was not made so the deal was off. All I want now is for my four companions who there now in Baguio to do the job to come home to Davao. Problem is they don’t have the money for their fare and expenses to come home. I just want you to give them money for their expenses. Do this for yourself and that of your family. Don’t tell this to anyone.)
    I asked him how much his companions needed. “Kahit bente mil, puede na. (P20,00 would be fine.)” I told him I did not have that money and only had P3,000 for my gasoline saying I was on the way to Bauang. He was silent, but after a few minutes, told me,” Sige ipadala mu sa G-cash account ng kasamahan ko. (Just send it to the G-cash account of my companion). ”
    He texted the account number and the purported person who will receive it. This is a scam, I thought.
   **
I told him I will call him later, so I went to the main police station. I asked the investigator if they had a gadget to locate the caller and told him the whole story. He said, they did not have the technology for that. He said since I was along Ambuklao Road which is part of La Trinidad, Benguet when the caller called first, it was better if I blottered the incident in the capital town. The “killer” called again but the investigator told me not to answer it.
He told me to tell the caller that I will give it physically to the contact person so he could be entrapped. 
    So off I went to the main La Trinidad police station to have the incident blottered. I narrated again the story. The investigator there said it could be a scam. Then, the “killer” called again. I signaled the investigator, it was the perpetrator calling. He got the phone from me and answered the “killer” – “Nakuha mo na ba yung three thousand. Nagpadala na ako sa G-cash account na tinext mo (Did you get the three thousand? I sent the money through the G-cash account number you sent me).”
    The investigator later told me the “killer” was hesitant in talking and closed his phone.  Like the Baguio investigator, he told me it could be a scam, but added, I still needed to take precautions considering the nature of my work. I told him I did not know of anybody I personally slighted or borrowed money from and did not have any enemies.
   ***
He said the caller might be someone I know or someone alluded to in an article I wrote who wanted to frighten or rile me. The “killer” never called or texted after that. Suffice to say that it got me more conscious about me and my family’s security. I was thinking it was indeed a scam considering he was intent in even getting the P3,000.
But these days, in cases like this, you never know until it is too late.   
    **
Scams abound nowadays considering it is very easy to fool people online. We hear of people getting scammed on a daily basis. There are the big-time scammers who entice people like old folks to invest their hard-earned money in too-good-to-be-true schemes and the gullible still fall for these.
    Then, there are the ones who are content in getting a penny or two just to get by the day like a vendor here selling imported oranges but passed these on as coming from Sagada, Mountain Province. A client complained to authorities and discovered she also used a tampered weighing scale to pad her gain.
    A trading store found engaged in a tricky marketing strategy preying mostly on senior citizens and unwary residents was also padlocked on July 23.
   ***
Such reports made the city government intensify its crackdown against sellers engaged in deceptive marketing ploys to entice customers and earn more profit.
    According to City Permits and Licensing Officer Allan Abayao, said operations will be sustained by a team composed of his office, the Public Order and Safety Division, both under the office of Mayor Benjamin Magalong and the Market Division under the City Treasury Office.
    Abayao urged help of businessmen in ridding the city of deceitful schemes in a letter he sent to malls and business enterprises recently.
     “Let us be vigilant especially to tenants/agents within your jurisdiction who are meeting passers-by or mallers and offering their products/services with deceptive market strategy. A trading business was already closed…and a vendor was also penalized in violation of the provisions of the Consumer Act (RA 7394) and there are more to come,” he warned. “Let us help one another in making our city free from any deceptive marketing strategies.”
 Abayao said Article 50 of RA 7394 provides the definition of a deceptive act or practice by a seller:
     "A deceptive act or practice by a seller or supplier in connection with a consumer transaction violates this Act whether it occurs before, during or after the transaction. An act or practice shall be deemed deceptive whenever the producer, manufacturer, supplier or seller, through concealment, false representation or fraudulent manipulation, induces a consumer to enter into sales or lease transaction of any consumer product or service."