ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / July 11, 2014) – The Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur on Friday warned Filipinos working abroad and the public against falling victims to Internet scams, most of which involve asking for money on the pretext of love.
The Embassy said it has received and acted on complaints from victims who were scammed by supposed lovers they met through chat rooms and Facebook messaging.
It said a Hong Kong-based Filipina, whose name was not disclosed by officials, said she met an alleged Malaysia-based Briton on a social website who became her fiancé after two months. With their series of conversations on the Internet and with promising words of this alleged Briton, the Filipina sent huge sums of money to him, but the Briton was not heard from since.
Two Filipinas were also victimized by an alleged Malaysia-based Translink Express Courier which asked them to claim alleged parcels from their supposed lovers which were held at the Customs office. They sent several amounts via Western Union, but were not able to get anything.
A male Malaysian national met a Filipina through Facebook and Skype with account names Yukico Taro and Kico Taro. Accordingly, the woman, who is very attractive, constantly contacted the Malaysian national through his Facebook account. As time went on, the two did intimate acts through webcam, but unknown to the Malaysian, the woman or the syndicate behind her recorded his indecent acts. The video is being used against the Malaysian national, with the threat that said video will be uploaded to YouTube if he will not send her money.
The Embassy has also forwarded these information to the Philippine National Police and the Royal Malaysian Police for their information and further action. These internet scams are just a tip of the iceberg, and there may possibly be more which have not been reported.
The Embassy reminded Filipino nationals to exercise caution in dealing with people online, particularly those they have not met personally and who ask for money for whatever reasons.
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