07 Dec PRO-NorthMin Advise, Inform Public re ‘Phone Tokhang’ Scam
A scam is now capitalizing on the intense war against illegal drugs to extort money from different and selected victims.
According to a report from Sun.Star, the Police Regional Office (PRO)- Northern Mindanao is warning and advising the public not to trust these spreading text messages as these are just scams and a new modus of syndicates.
The modus of these scammers is to notify their victims through text messages saying that their names are on the supposed list of personalities for liquidation, said Cyber investigator Police Officer 1 Shella May Edon Mentopa.
PRO cyber crime unit recorded at least 10 incidents of this kind of modus from June to October 2016.
Mentopa said these suspects presents themselves as hired killers, then propose not to execute the killing in exchange for a certain amount.
This scam was already circulating last year but after President Rodrigo Duterte introduced his campaign against illegal drugs, the number of cases has risen badly.
A local businessman has encountered this type of modus two months ago.
According to him, the scammers were hired to kill him for P200,000 and that his family is also included for additional P50,000. The supposed killers then tried to negotiate saying that they won’t execute the assassination if he could give them the same amount to pay back to their supposed employer.
The businessman added that the supposed killers are threatening him that some of their people are already surrounding their house and that the money should be sent through a remittance center.
He even provoked the suspect to meet him personally but the suspect stopped calling. He then reported it to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Philippine National Police spokesman Dionardo Carlos said over GMA’s Balitanghali that people must not be fooled by this scam and that there is no such thing as ‘Phone Tokhang.’ He added that there nothing to worry about if they are not drug personalities.
On the other hand, PRO spokesman Surki Sereñas also advise the public to immediately report any incidents concerning this scam to the authorities.
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