Pinay DH reports losing P100k to online ‘scratch and win’’scammers

 

Screenshot of the Facebook page used to entice many of the HK victims

A Filipina domestic helper has reported losing around Php100k to a “scratch and win lottery” scammers that entice victims through live streaming on Facebook, and apparently targets migrant workers.

Loida, 48 years old, said she was encouraged to buy “scratch cards” after seeing the live broadcast on “Scratch Win Live” by the scammers who do not show their faces on screen but can be heard rallying people to join and continuously jotting down the supposed winnings of participants.

Loida said she saw a number of posts in the comments section saying they had received their prizes, which assured her that the lottery was “legit.”

Basahin ang detalye!

At first she was told that all she had to pay was HK$220 to the GCash account of someone named “Jeraldine Dela Fuente Sanquez” to get 40 cards that would be scratched to reveal hidden prizes denominated in US dollars.

But after a number of her cards were scratched and her supposed winnings reached more than Php1million, Loida was told she needed to pay the full price of HK$2000 before they could proceed further.

Believing that she had already hit the jackpot but wanted more, Loida readily paid the balance of K$1,780 (Php13,740) to the GCash account of “Jibmmy Saruce Sugeta”.

Not long after, her supposed winnings hit more than Php3 million and Loida was told she needed to use a code to get into a Telegram chat to learn how she could collect her winnings.

On the Telegram app, Loida was informed through chat that she needed to pay a processing fee of Php39,819 to one Justine Carlbuce through the GCash account number +63 9560083207 before she could collect her prize. She immediately complied.

The scammers could only be heard, not seen

But after sending the money, she received a notification with the heading “New York State Gaming Commission” telling her that she needed to pay a “currency conversion fee” as she had asked that her prize money which was in peso be deposited to her Hong Kong bank account.

The amount she was asked to pay this time was Php42,217, to be credited to the GCash account of one Berlinda Z. Cabulao, number +63 9456216542. Though getting wary, Loida did as she was told.

This was after she was shown a message to one Mary Grace supposedly from BDO informing her that her winning of Php1.66 million had already been deposited to her account.

Loida eventually came to her senses when told that she needed to pay another Php72,000 for supposedly sending the wrong code.

'Wrong code' notification

She blew her top and warned that she would inform the NBI about the scam, but was just brushed off. Each time she tried to post a comment on their wall to warn others about the scam, it would be immediately deleted.

To this day, she said she is able to access the page, as well as new ones they have created to continue defrauding people, but all her pleas and threats to get her money back are being ignored.

“Gusto kong isuplong ang mga scammer na ito dahil hindi lang ako ang biktima,” (I want to complain against these scammers because I am not the only victim), Loida told the assistance to nationals section of the Migrant Workers Office.

Indeed, there have been others who were enticed to pay at least HK$2,000 to the gang, most of them Hong Kong-based domestic helpers, according to Maria, who was the only one who managed to stop after sending the initial amount of HK$220.

Maria said that while the scammers claim to be operating in Kowloon Tong, this could not be independently verified, meaning they could actually be based in the Philippines which would explain why the money is always sent to GCash accounts there.

A new Facebook page but the same modus operandi

Maria has gathered a number of the victims after seeing them post on the live feed expressing their interest in joining the scratch scam. Unfortunately all of them had already paid HK$2000 each before she could stop them.

According to Maria, some of the victims had used money they were supposed to use to pay off loans in paying the scammers. Loida herself said she had set aside the money she lost to the scammers for her child’s upcoming graduation.

What’s more sad is that this was not the first time Loida had been scammed. About six years ago she was enticed to put HK$40,000 into an investment scheme offered by a person she had treated as kin. The fellow domestic helper who shared her surname disappeared after moving with her employer to a new home without telling her.