Philippines Scams & Warnings

Archive for the ‘Thieves’ Category

I would like to Warn people of a woman in Pasig City, Manila Philippines.

Here name is Arlene Adan she goes by many differnt  variations like Len, Nicole , sweetmisty and many others. She is 28 years old  born in  September 11, 1981 but tells men she is as young as 23. She gets men to fall in love with her and tells them she will marry then while draining them off all their money.  She has many different accounts and does this to many different men at the same time. She is also trying to get men to file K-1 Visa for her. She is trying to move to the USA, UK, Japan and Singapore and I am sure any place where she can get money from them. Her family is also involved in these scams.   Read the rest of this entry »

I would like to warn you from a couple named Samuel Atanque and Dionisia “Baby” Federizo Atanque. They were previously residing at Santa Rosa, Laguna but has since moved to Atimonan, Quezon – the hometown of the guy.

Their style of business is generally on Real Estate, wherein they would sell you a House and Lot or a Lot Only with a fake land title. On the side, they offer Check Re-discounting and sells Made-to-Order Security Jackets.

They were so good at their trade that they were able to lure and victimize a lot of people – including their supposedly “best” friend. Said best friend was not aware of the couple’s modus operandi that she bought three (3) parcels of land from the couple in Santa Rosa, Laguna. This best friend has lost around Php1.2M for the three (3) lots, which she had been religiously paying in monthly installments for the past ten (10) years.

The couple’s modus was exposed to their “best” friend July of 2009 by accident – but too late as the couple and their three (3) kids were able to leave Santa Rosa, Laguna successfully. To date, the couple’s relatives in Santa Rosa keeps on saying they don’t know where their sister was, but the couple were believed to be either in Calamba, Laguna or Atimonan, Quezon.

If by chance you meet someone in Quezon with the names Samuel “Sammy” Atanque and Dionisia “Baby” Federizo Atanque…BEWARE!!!

Have been victimized by a few girls from the Philippines. In particular, those who have fake, free profiles from website Filipinaheart.com. I made several complaints regarding woman who place fake pictures and profiles to attract attention to which the website responds with a refusal to remove such people from the site.  Recently, I was in correspondence with one JANICE KASPA who I would speak to over the phone.  She refused to go on webcam so I decided to send her money to purchase a webcam. She would take the money and would claim the webcam doesnt work.  I believed her. After two months I decided I would want to meet her during my next visit to the Philippines. Claiming she was from General Santos City, I sent her money thru Western Union to purchase a plane ticket. A few hours after she took the money, I spoke to her and she had a story of how she was just robbed and her purse stolen. She claimed to be at the police station, so I asked to speak to a police officer. She hung up the phone. Never heard from her again.  I went back on Filipinaheart, and sure enough a new profile was created using her friends name Laila Mae Lapang, using same fake pictures she emailed me. Beware of these SCAMMERS. No webcam, dont even bother with them.

I am a 30 year old American and this is how I was scammed in the Philippines.

On my first day in Manila I went to Intramuros to sightsee.  While there I went to Manila Cathedral.  While inside Manila Cathedral I met two very nice respectable girls that invited me to lunch with their family in China town.  So I met their family.  There aunts, one uncle and the boyfriend of one of the girls.  While here they informed me that they were traveling as well and were from Baguio.  They invited me to join them as they had a minivan and were going to the kind of places that I wanted to see.  So foolishly I accepted.  Two days later they picked me up at my hotel and we set off to Tagaytay.  We saw the sights during the day and at night we drank and told jokes and had a good old time.

Now at some point, after I had been drinking a bit it was suggested I make a run to an ATM since in Northern Luzon it can hard to find ATMs and to make sure my card worked.  So we went to an ATM at about 9:30 at night.  Now mind you it was a real bank (Allied Bank) and a real ATM.  But what I probably didn’t notice was that their was a device their to clone my card and capture my pin number.  At some point after that I believe I was drugged since I don’t remember much more of the night and I wasn’t that drunk.

The next day I woke up and was fine and we proceeded with our trip.  We drove north stopping the town of San Jose.  Again we had a good time and all seemed well.  We sang karaoke and had a few beers.  The next morning however they claimed that they had a car problem and showed me what appeared to be some sort of leak in the car.  They said they would drop me off in Banaue and come back for me the next day.  They also asked if I could spare a 1000 pesos for the return trip to get me.  And of course I paid.

Upon my next ATM visit a few days later I am told that I have insufficient funds.  I figure this is some sort of error and just use another card and think little of it.  It isn’t until I return home that I confirm what has happened to me and they instead of it being and error my bank account really has been run dry.  They ran 19 transactions at the max on the first night.  Waited 2 days (the day when I was dropped off) and then ran 7 more until my account was done.

In hindsight, despite how warm and caring they seemed, there were small signs that could be seen.  First, nobody on their trip had a camera or took pictures.  When we went to sites most people just stayed behind.  Second, I was never clear as to what everyone’s relationship was and nobody could seem to adequately explain it.  Third, despite the fact that they are planning to be on the road with you for over a week everyone has a really small bag.   The last thing let me know for sure that it was them is that at some point, probably while I was drugged, they deleted all photos of themselves from my camera.

So word to the wise, be very careful.  Not all scams involve poor pretty women or buying things.  I hope that someone benefits from my experience.  If you have any comments or questions I’d be very interested.