3 ‘shareholders’ of raided Pogo sue for identity theft

INSPECTION In this June 24 photo, a policeman checks one of the buildings inside the raided Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hub run by Lucky South 99 in Porac, Pampanga. Government teams found KTV bars, a sex den and a torture room, and seized computers, phones and other equipment used in online scams during a series of inspections in the complex following the raid in early June. —RICHARD A. REYES

Three people, including one who was recently placed on an immigration lookout for his alleged links to a raided Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) in Porac, Pampanga, have filed charges of identity theft and falsification of documents against officers of the Pogo after they were named, without their knowledge, as shareholders in one of its subsidiary companies.

Affidavits obtained by the Inquirer on Friday showed that Julian Linsangan, Edwin Ang and Marion Chua accused 13 corporate directors and officers of Lucky South 99 Outsourcing Inc. of conspiring to falsify their signatures on several corporate documents.

Linsangan was included in an immigration lookout bulletin order (Ilbo) by the Bureau of Immigration on June 21 in connection with his involvement with Lucky South 99, which was raided by a team led by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission in early June for illegal activities.

Linsangan, Chua and Ang are identified as stockholders and as president, treasurer and director, respectively, of Lucky South 99, according to the company’s general information sheet.

Other respondents

They appeared for the first time on Wednesday before the House joint committee on public safety and order which is investigating illegal activities of Pogos, and narrated how they were set up by Lucky South 99 officers.

Among the respondents in the separate complaint-affidavits they filed before the Makati prosecutor’s office on July 10 is Cassandra Ong, who represents Lucky South 99. Ong’s name surfaced earlier after lawyer Harry Roque, the former spokesperson for former President Rodrigo Duterte, revealed that he accompanied her during a July 2023 meeting with Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) Chair Alejandro Tengco to discuss Lucky South 99’s unpaid arrears.

The other respondents include Lucky South 99 corporate secretary Ronelyn Baterna, who was cited in contempt by the House committee on public order and safety for refusing to name the real Lucky South 99 owners during Wednesday’s hearing; Michael and Stephanie Mascareñas; Rodrigo Bande; Xiang Tan; Jing Gu; Zhang Jie; Norman Macapagal; Lowe Yambao; Dan dela Cruz; Jessie Rallos; and an unidentified Singaporean.

‘Shocked’

“All of the named persons, in conspiracy with each other, have benefited from the falsified documents as they have used the same for the online incorporation of Lucky South 99 Outsourcing Inc. Thus, they are the falsifiers and the unlawful takers and users of my identity,” Linsangan, Chua and Ang said in their separate affidavits.

Xiang Tan, Jing Gu and Zhang Jie were also named in a separate Aug. 6 Ilbo that included Roque. Ong was named in both the June 21 and Aug. 6 Ilbo.Linsangan, Chua and Ang said they were “shocked to learn about this matter” as they “have never purchased” any shares of stock nor even know what Lucky South 99 is.

They believed they got entangled with the issue because one of the respondents, Dela Cruz, approached them in August 2023 and offered an investment opportunity for a “new online games business” that supposedly would be registered in the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Dela Cruz said the three would have to put up at least P500,000 to acquire a 10.3-percent share in the business, although he told them that they did not have to pay the amount yet.

‘20-percent’ earnings

Instead, Dela Cruz asked them to submit photocopies of their identification (ID) cards and specimen signatures, as well as their tax identification numbers that would be required for a credit and background investigation.

Sometime in November, Linsangan, Chua and Ang asked if they could meet Ong, whom Dela Cruz described as his “boss,” to inquire about the investment.

“But Mr. Dan dela Cruz informed us that she is too busy as she is attending to Singaporean and Chinese investors … he then said we can have a video conference with Ms Cassey Ong (Cassandra Ong) during the said meeting,” they said in their affidavits.

“After we finished our questionnaires, Ms Cassey Ong, through Mr. Dan dela Cruz, had a video conference with us and enticed us that the investment would be profitable and would probably earn around 20 percent every year,” they said. “They then informed us that they will call us once the results of the credit investigation come out.”

Linsangan, Chua and Ang said Dela Cruz and Ong did not contact them after the video meeting.

Signatures forged

But on June 26, Chua said he heard their names mentioned in the news in connection with Lucky South 99.

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They immediately requested copies of corporate documents and found out that their signatures were forged in the director’s certificate. They also discovered that they were named shareholders of the company with 33.33 percent of shares of stock equivalent to P13 million.

They attached the corporate documents, which show their supposed signatures, their IDs and specimen signatures, in the complaint-affidavits they filed in the Makati prosecutor’s office last month. Linsangan, Chua and Ang said they “finally realized that the offer for investment was a mere ‘setup/cover’ in order to take my identity and to misuse it in illegal activities.”