Call from ‘mother’ made her give jewels to stranger

Hearing the frantic voice of her “mother” on the other end of the line made her fall for one of the oldest tricks in the book.

A 23-year-old woman said she was victimized late Friday afternoon by a dugo-dugo gang member who impersonated her mother and tricked her into entrusting some P1 million worth of jewelry to a female stranger in Manila.

Margaret Gan of Bel-Air, Makati City, told investigators at the Manila Police District that while she was well aware of how such a syndicate operates, she really thought she was speaking to her 50-year-old mother when she took a phone call at her home at around 3 p.m.

Gan said the woman at the other of the line told her she urgently needed money after accidentally running over a man who was later rushed to a hospital in critical condition.

“Mother,” Gan said, told her to gather up the jewelry kept in her parent’s bedroom and take these to SM City Manila mall.

Gan said she was also instructed not to tell anyone, not even the taxi driver she would hire, about the accident or go to the police lest her purported mother get into deeper trouble.

Alarmed, Gan immediately did what she was told. Upon reaching the mall, a woman, whom she described to be in her 30s and around 5 ft tall, approached her claiming she was picking up the jewelry on behalf of her mother.

The woman then asked Gan to stay put and wait for her return. Hours later, Gan realized she had been duped, according to police records.