THE Bureau of Customs-Davao (BOC-Davao) warned the public anew of a “love scam” as their office had already received an estimated 100 complaints from victims this year.
Lawyer Erastus Sandin Austria, BOC-Davao District Collector, said a love scam or parcel scam is a fraudulent scheme of an unscrupulous syndicate texting, calling, and even emailing their victims about cargoes and parcels addressed to them.
Austria said once the scammers will gain the trust of the victims, they will tell the victims that they will be sending them gifts. The victims will then be told that the gift that was sent to them has been put on hold at the BOC.
Majority of the victims, he said, are those below 40 years old, and the largest scammed amount is around P35,000.
Although the official said that the number of victims might even be higher as some don’t report it to them as they are ashamed.
“I would say mas dako pa diri ang number. Dili man gud tanan naa courage magreklamo, and uban maulaw na pud sila actually na musulti na na-scam na sila. Naa uban na informal ang pagpahibalo pero dili na sila interested na magreklamo (the number of victims by this scam is way higher because not everyone had the courage to complain, and some would be ashamed to admit that they were scammed. Some would informally tell us that they were scammed but they won’t be pursuing in filing a complaint),” Austria said.
The official said this kind of scam is rampant during the Christmas season and they are coordinating with other agencies to prevent others from getting victimized by the
He also believed that there was a syndicate group behind it.
“Elaborate na gyud na siya na sistema. Mura’g gisindikato na gyud siya. Dili lang siya nga ka tawo nga nangilad sab og isa ka tawo. Negosyo na gyud siya (This is an elaborate system. I believe that a syndicate is behind this. This is not only done by a certain individual to another. This has become a business),” he added.
Austria clarified the BOC does not call recipients and instructs them to deposit a certain amount.
The BOC official admitted that they don’t have the police power to apprehend and that they refer the complaints to concerned law enforcement agencies such as the National Bureau of Investigation, and the Philippine National Police.
With this, Austria said they are going to intensify their information dissemination to warn the public against the proliferating scam. RGL
