Lovelorn woman seeking potion loses P66K in scam

When a 27-year-old woman from Pasay City felt that salvaging her relationship would need a higher power, she turned to the supernatural, thus setting in motion a four-month saga that ended in the loss of over P66,000 and the arrest of an extortionist boasting connection to witches.

The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said on Tuesday that it had collared Jhane Mendoza, 29, at a fast-food restaurant in Valenzuela City after Bernadette San Juan asked for help.

A police report said San Juan’s boyfriend had ended their relationship in April, driving her to “do everything just to be with him again.”

Her desperation led her to Facebook where, searching for love potions, she was messaged by Mendoza.

P2.7K down payment

Claiming she had a friend who knew witchcraft, Mendoza asked for a P2,718.66 down payment from San Juan who readily obliged, believing the money was for the potion’s ingredients.

The NCRPO said that at one point, San Juan went to Mendoza’s house in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan, because the suspect had asked her for “a small pot and other instruments needed” for the love potion.

Mendoza later told San Juan that the sorceress in charge of concocting the potion had died, and asked for an additional “offering” of P5,000 so that she could procure the services of another.

The demands continued to pile up over the months that followed until San Juan had shelled out P66,675.66 for the potion even though she was still no closer to reuniting with her former flame.

“She was really in love so she kept taking the bait,” said Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar, NCRPO director.

The last straw came on July 28, when Mendoza asked for P50,000 for the potion and threatened San Juan, saying she would hex her, kill her ex-lover through sorcery and send Pangasinan policemen to arrest her if she failed to pay up.

All for show

“Feeling helpless and threatened and apparently sensing that everything was for show, [San Juan] sought help,” the NCRPO said.

This ultimately led to the arrest of Mendoza by NCRPO operatives at 3:20 p.m. on Monday.

Eleazar said Mendoza was never actually involved in witchcraft but she preyed on desperate and heartbroken victims.

He added that the suspect would be charged with robbery-extortion with intimidation in the Valenzuela City Prosecutor’s Office.