By Vir B. Lumicao
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| The helper has said she was taken to this HSBC branch to open an ATM-linked account |
Police say they have arrested a Filipina domestic helper for her suspected involvement in a deception case in which a 47-year-old woman lost close to $320,000 in March.
The suspect, aged 45, was detained on Thursday in Kwun Tong for “obtaining property by deception”, but was released after one day of questioning on the same $500 bail imposed on her during an earlier investigation.
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| PINDUTIN PARA SA DETALYE |
According to the spokesperson, police received a report from
the alleged victim on Mar 10 that she had been conned of $317,737. No other
details were given by the police. However, a police source said the case was
“sort of a romance scam”.
This indicates that the alleged victim was wooed by an unknown person who then used the helper’s ATM bank account as repository for the illegally obtained money.
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| Pindutin para sa detalye |
The detained helper had initially sought help from the police and the Consulate
in early February, claiming to have lost her ATM card in a part-time job scam.
She claimed then that she was hooked into the ploy by someone who posted an offer for parttime jobs on Facebook.
When she responded, another Filipina helper who met up with her took her to an HSBC branch in Tuen Mun to open an ATM linked account for her, then took the card away.
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Her ATM card was then used to funnel money earned from
illegal means, which now appears, included the $320,000 taken from the unnamed
victim in the most recent case.
The accused helper was arrested on April 22 and dismissed by her employer the next day. After being allowed to post police bail, she said she was being investigated in connection with a deception case.
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| Pindutin para sa detalye |
An investigation into the alleged scam began late last year, when about 10 Filipinas were arrested by police looking into the use of their bank accounts in laundering money earned through illicit means, including the so-called love scam.
Some of those arrested told police their ATM cards were taken from them by another Filipina domestic worker they named as Gemmalyn Reyes.
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The rise in deception cases involving Filipina helpers prompted the HK Police Anti-Deception Coordinating Centre and the Consulate to jointly hold a webinar to warn the community about various scams that have deprived victims of millions of dollars.
One of the most common is the “romance scam” in which a foreign man meets a local woman on a dating site, courts her and, after gaining her friendship, sends her a purportedly expensive parcel. People posing as freight company staff then call up the woman and tell her she has a package waiting to be delivered but she has to pay a huge sum for customs duties and transport fee.
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| Tunghayan ang isa na namang kwentong Dream Love |
They then advise the victim to deposit the money in a bank account that turns out to be owned by a foreign domestic helper who herself was duped by the same conmen into lending or surrendering to them her ATM card for their criminal deeds.
