Pinay in Singapore falls prey to text raffle scam

MANILA, Philippines — A Filipina worker based in Singapore became the latest victim of a long-running text raffle scam, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday.

The DFA website (www.dfa.gov.ph) reiterated Wednesday its warning to all Filipinos overseas to be "wary of these fraudulent schemes and to not respond to any such text messages to avoid becoming victims of these scams."

"The Philippine government takes these scams seriously. The Cybercrimes Division of the National Bureau of Investigation investigates cases of text message scams and e-mail fraud," it said.

In the case of the latest victim, the DFA said the Filipina working in Singapore reported that she received a text message from a certain “Atty. Lorna Ruiz."

She said "Ruiz" informed her that she had won a prize in an electronic raffle, and advised her to contact a “Ricardo Mendoza" to receive her supposed prize.

But she was asked to transmit first a certain amount via Western Union to an “Elmer Dawang."

After she sent the amount, the scammers cut off communication with her. "Attempts by the OFW to contact the scammers proved futile," the DFA said. The DFA did not say how much the Filipina lost.

The DFA reminded OFWs that the scammers will represent themselves as legitimate enterprises and agencies, such as the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Department of Trade and Industry.

They also provide fake names for contact purposes, the DFA added.

"Those who respond to the text message are asked to transmit money as a requirement prior to receiving their so-called prizes. The money will be used supposedly to pay for taxes or remittance charges. In some cases, they are asked prepaid phone load," it said. - GMANews.TV

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