By Leonardo Micua

 

WE were appalled at the audacity by which some individuals misrepresent high officials of the government and hoodwink their victims for easy money, using only their constant companions —their smartphones.

One such person introduced himself in a conversation with local government officials as the secretary of the interior and local government or a member of his staff’s inner circle, and in some as the secretary’s  relative.

The suspect, Edison Samson Montealto, aka Larry Abalos, was apprehended in Lingayen in an entrapment operation set by the Office of Internal Security of DILG with the help of the Lingayen police following reports of a series of extortion activities in Mindanao and the Visayas and one in Luzon, specifically from Masinloc, Zambales.

On orders of DILG Secretary Ben Hur Abalos, the suspect was placed under surveillance and was apprehended while he was in Lingayen, where he perhaps planned to scam more local public officials.

Fortunately, not one LGU official in Pangasinan was victimized by the scammer whose modus is to call LGU officials and tell them he is sending rice assistance and that it’s on the way but needed some cash that could be sent to him via GCash because the truck carrying the rice shipment suffered flat tires along the way.

It was a common modus of scammers, but why a number of local government officials took the bite hook, line and sinker is highly unimaginable. They could have easily deduced it was a pure and simple scam.

Based on the DILG’s report, the suspect already fleeced more than P150,000 from all of his victims, which means he’s not at all a big time scammer, one that should have already scammed millions of pesos. He was believed to be doing it by his lonesome.

Why he came to Pangasinan despite the fact that he’s not from this province prompted many to hazard a guess that  he may have thought that Pangasinan’s local  officials are gullible and are easy preys. Well, he was wrong. It was in this province where he was finally entrapped and apprehended by DILG personnel

He was immediately brought to Manila and charged with violation of Republic Act  No. 11934 or the SIM Registration Act, identity Theft under RA 10175 or the CyberCrime Prevention Act, and estafa. He’s the first person we know to be charged  for violation of RA 11934 or the SIM  Registration Act. It means that the SIM registration law is useful after all.

There are more scammers like Montealto in our midst and will strike at every opportunity if we lose our guard and do not become vigilant.

Take for instance, the cases reported by two district engineers of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Pangasinan that we reported in this paper. They were compelled to issue disclaimers to alert the public about some persons calling and texting contractors and using their names to extort money.

Assistant DPWH  engineers Eldred Mislang of District IV, and District Engineer Edita Manuel of District II issued the disclaimers separately in the DPWH official Facebook page to warn contractors and the public that it was not them who made the phone calls and SMS but the scammers, who are yet to be apprehended today.

Engineers Mislang and Manuel called on contractors to ignore calls and SMS from the two unregistered mobile numbers and immediately report the matter to the police and the National Bureau of Investigation in Region 1.

We recall, too, a few month ago when DTI Provincial Director Natalia Dalaten complained about somebody using her name and her office for illegal transactions through phone calls and SMS with merchants and businessmen as well as other beneficiaries of DTI programs.

We cannot fathom why scammers abound these days despite the mandatory SIM registration. This makes us ask –  Did the mandatory SIM card registration really curb scamming or merely enhanced such criminal activities?

We can only conclude that scamming via mobile phones still thrive these days perhaps because of the anonymity that it offers to when amassing wealth illegally.

Scamming and stealing identities of others would have no chance to prosper if only people are more vigilant and ignore all messages and calls not registered in their phone’s lists of contacts as well as their accounts in the internet.

For the safety of everyone, it all cellphone users must remain vigilant at all times, lest we become the next unwilling victims too of these fraudulent individuals. #

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