CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Cebu Barter Community (CBC) was placed under the spotlight recently following reports of bogus barters that victimized some of its members.
One of the most recent victims was Maefany Pascual who agreed to trade her DLSR with a brand new iPhoneX.
Pascual said she agreed to the barter offer of a certain Grace Cortez and met with her outside a milk tea station in Barangay Tisa, Cebu City at around 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 14.
Confident that she was transacting with an honest individual, Pascual said she no longer checked the content of the paper bag which Cortez handed to her.
It was only when she got home that she opened the paper bag and found the pieces of stones wrapped in paper that were placed inside.
Pascual said she decided to share her experience on the Cebu Barter Community Facebook page to warn others not to be too trusting in their barters.
Bong Abela, head of the CBC admin, told CDN Digital that dealing with bogus individuals can be avoided by asking a lot of questions about him/her and the item for barter.
“Demand gyud dapat sila, they can ask for a video of the object especially if gadgets para maka baw gyud sila sa bartered thing, that’s why we encourage them to exchange the things or offers done in the comments and not PM for transparency,” he said.
Abella said that it is the responsibility of their every member to get to know the person they are dealing with.
“We encourage the one bartering to also be responsible for checking the person you are bartering with,” he said.
As for Cortez, Abella said they already blocked her from their community.
He is also asking their members to immediately report their concerns to the page admins so they could immediately block and/or mute erring members. / dcb