Police warn public against name-dropping con artists
The police warned establishments to beware of people who transact business over the phone and drop the name of prominent figures.
Two con-artists were able to acquire new car batteries and cellphone load by misrepresenting themselves as Mandaue City Mayor Jonas Cotes and a barangay captain of Mandaue City.
Two firms were the recent victims of this modus operandi, said Insp. Ramil Morpos, chief of the Investigation and Detection Management Branch (IDMB) of the Mandaue police.
On Jan. 5, Orient Star Marketing in Mandaue City received a call from a man who claimed to be Mayor Cortes and ordered two car batteries to be delivered to City Hall.
The firm sent their delivery man with the batteries worth P10,400 each.
At the City Hall, a man approached the delivery man, Nestor Pilapil.
Article continues after this advertisementThinking he was the mayor’s staff member, Pilapil accompanied him to a car shop in A.C. Cortes Street where they installed one of the batteries in a vehicle.
Article continues after this advertisementThen they went back to the City Hall presumably to collect payment.
Pilapil was left at the parking lot while the unidentified man, described as 5’7” in height, with a slim build and a fair complexion, went upstairs.
He didn’t come back.
After waiting for 20 minutes, Pilapil went looking for him to no avail.
When the delivery man went back to the shop, he was told that the man already left on board a vehicle. The batteries were gone.
Pilapil reported the incident to the police.
Last month, a hotel in Mandaue City was also hit by a scam artist, who called up and identified himself as Subangdaku barangay captain Ernie Manatad.
The caller asked for P1,000 in cell phone load credits, which the hotel staff granted.
They waited for him to come over, book a room and pay for the load but no one came.
Police suspect one person pulled off both scams.
They will soon release a cartographic sketch of the perpetrator based on the description given by Pilapil.
