The Criminal Investigation and Detection Group has arrested three alleged swindlers for duping a Korean national into paying $180,000 in processing fees for a loan he applied for in the Philippines.
Lucio Uy, 86, Flora Abadesco, 55, and Lilibeth Panelo, 54, were arrested when the police and victim Jung Hyun Yu set up an entrapment operation on Thursday night at a restaurant along Ayala Avenue in Makati City.
Supt. Marlon Tayaba of the CIDG’s major crimes investigation unit said the suspects required Yu to pay $180,000 to process the loan.
According to CIDG spokesperson Chief Insp. Elizabeth Jasmin, Yu needed a guarantor for his current housing project in Sri Lanka.
Yu was then lured by Uy, whom the victim knew since 2010, to transact with a Philippine bank that could act as a guarantor for him in applying for a loan.
Convinced, Yu handed over the dollars to Uy and two women, Abadesco and Panelo, who posed as a nun and a corporate secretary, in a Quezon City office.
The suspects then gave Yu bank documents for his transaction between the Philippine and South Korean banks.
But when Yu checked the bank documents with the local bank, he found out that the documents were fake.
After the discovery, Yu sought CIDG’s help when the suspects asked him to give another P500,000 to introduce him to another guarantor.
The suspects will be charged with syndicated estafa before the Makati City prosecutor’s office.