Woman outsmarts con man offering pricey phones online

A man who had duped over a dozen people by pretending to be an iPhone vendor was arrested by Quezon City policemen in an entrapment operation on Monday afternoon.

Chief Supt. Joselito Esquivel, Quezon City Police District (QCPD) director, identified the suspect as Jose “Taffy” Reyes Jr.

A Cubao resident, Reyes was arrested by the QCPD Anti-Cybercrime Team led by Chief Insp. June Paolo Abrazado on K-10th Street at Barangay West Kamias.

Earlier, one of his victims, Ruffa Carbonita, complained to the police that the suspect, who operated on Facebook, offered her an iPhone on Jan. 12.

Carbonita said that she deposited P10,000 in Reyes’ bank account as initial payment.

However, the suspect failed to deliver the phone to her. They agreed to meet in Cubao on Jan. 15 but he did not show up either.

Another promise

Three days later, Reyes promised to give her the cell phone if Carbonita would send him the balance of P1,600.

Carbonita said that despite paying the amount, she still did not receive the gadget and when she tried to reach the suspect, she found out that he had blocked her on Facebook.

This prompted Carbonita to make a new Facebook account and pose as a buyer to track down Reyes.

The victim made a new transaction with him and alerted the QCPD which sent a team to arrest the suspect as he was claiming the money Carbonita had send him.

The police said that through this modus operandi, Reyes had duped at least 13 people, including Filipino workers in Dubai and Thailand.

He was charged with violating Art. 315 (swindling through estafa) of the Revised Penal Code in relation to Sec. 6 of Republic Act 10175 or The Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.