Former university scholar linked to credit card fraud
A former information technology student of a Cebu City university who was once arrested for hacking credit cards was implicated again in a recent case of credit card fraud.
The student is out on bail following his arrest in March last year.
His name was mentioned by three persons arrested on Sunday by police at the Mactan Cebu Interantional Airport, said Insp. Delfin Bontuyan of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CDIG-7) said.
In the recent incident, police said it was the student who purchased the plane tickets of Rhea Santiago, a native of Parañaque City using the credit card of lawyer Al Metila Lagahit.
Santiago, her boyfriend, Daniel Eugenio and the man’s father Nestor were arrested on Sunday night and charged for violation of RA 8484 or an Access Device Law.
They were later released after posting bail.
Article continues after this advertisementBontuyan said Nestor admitted it was the student who had bought Santiago’s plane ticket.
Article continues after this advertisementThe Eugenios live in barangay Linao, Minglanilla town, Cebu.
The father and son went to the airport to pick up Santiago.
Police are now looking for the same student, who once used the Citibank Gold Visa credit card of a doctor to buy Air Philippines tickets on line.
During his arrest, the student admitted to police that he could extract credit card numbers by surfing the Internet.
The student is now out on bail.
In the recent transaction, the credit card used for the plane tickets belonged to a lawyer, Lagahit, who found out last Feb. 20 that he had been billed by Banco de Oro for credit card transactions that he didn’t authorize.
Lagahit is a BDO Gold Master credit cardholder.
Two plane tickets were purchased from Cebu Pacific and Tiger Airways.
Lagahit complained to the bank and had his credit card account cancelled or blocked to prevent its use in future transactions.
He then reported the incident to the police who coordinated with the bank, the airlines involved and airport authorities to arrest the suspects./CORRESPONDENT CHITO O. ARAGON
