Teenage girl gypped of P110k in jewelry, cash by con in Manila

MANILA, Philippines—A 16-year-old girl was tricked into giving up P100,000 worth of jewelry and P10,000 cash to a woman who claimed the teenager’s mother urgently needed the money to prevent a lawsuit a man she supposedly had bumped with her car was threatening to bring against her.

Police said that hours after the incident on Monday, Gessa Rei Kiongson of Parola Compound in Tondo filed a complaint at the Manila Police District General Assignment Section against a possible  member of the so-called “dugo-dugo gang” who preyed on her.

Police Officer 3 Gilbert Isole, the case investigator, said the incident happened between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Monday, after the teenager received a telephone call from a woman, who identified herself as “Cristel,” claiming that her mother had figured in an accident.

Isole said that when the girl asked to talk to her mother, Cristel said her mother could not come to the phone because she was still speaking with policemen and badly needed money to pay off the man whom she had accidentally bumped with her car. Cristel instead instructed her to take some jewelry and cash to a mall at the corner of UN and Taft avenues in Ermita.

The mall is near the Manila police headquarters where Kiongson was made to believe her mother was being held.

“Cristel asked for the teenager’s mobile phone number, directed her to wrap the jewelry and cash in a piece of cloth, and instructed her not to speak with anyone about the transaction, which the girl obeyed,” Isole told the Inquirer.

Upon reaching the designated meeting place, the girl handed the valuables—P100,000 worth of jewelry and P10,000 in cash—to Cristel, who then told her to wait at the mall. “The suspect told her that she would call as soon as she spoke with the girl’s mother because the jewelry and cash she brought were not enough,” Isole said.

The girl realized she had been conned after waiting in vain for a call on her mobile phone for a couple of hours, and proceeded to the MPD headquarters to file a complaint.

Police were conducting follow-up operations Tuesday to identify and arrest the woman and recover the stolen items.