ROXAS City – A 42-year-old woman here complained to the police that she was victimized by an online scammer. She lost a total of P123,000.
But embarrassed with what happened to her, she asked that she be not publicly identified.
It started on Facebook, she said. She was playing an online game when a question suddenly popped up.
After she answered correctly, she received a message from a woman allegedly from Cavite but supposedly working in Canada.
According to the complainant, she was subsequently introduced to an alleged “Forex Account Manager” with the Facebook name “Reynaldo Cruza”.
She was persuaded to invest P10,000 coursed through a money remittance center on Sept. 15. She said she was promised a handsome financial return of P100,000.
A few days later, the woman said, she received a message that she won P800,000 but that she had to send P20,000 for police and customs fees. She complied.
Later, she was asked to further shell out P60,000 to supposedly “fast track” the processing of the prize money.
When she asked about the status of her supposed prize after sending the P60,000, she was told they had a hard time depositing the money to her bank account.
She was further told that a secretary would be flying to the Philippines to personally deliver the money but that the secretary needed P5,000 for her hotel accommodation.
She became suspicious, according to the woman, when she received an email claiming to be from the customs bureau informing her that the supposed secretary was being held for carrying large sums of money. She was asked P40,000 so the police and customs could release her prize./PN
