Lapu-Lapu woman victimized by ‘budol-budol’ gang, police issue warning

This is the ‘budol’ money given to the victim after she was scammed by two female suspects in Lapu-Lapu City. | Photo from Jelyn Cordova

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The police have once issued a warning to the public to be extra vigilant against ‘budol-budol’ syndicates after a woman was victimized by the swindling group in Lapu-Lapu City on Friday, June 25.

Police Major Narciso Abapo, chief of the Lapu-Lapu Police Station 3 in Barangay Gun-ob, reminded residents to be extra cautious when conversing with strangers to avoid being victimized by the scheming swindlers.

This warning came after a certain Jelyn Cordova, 25, went to their station on Friday afternoon and reported being victimized by two female suspects who approached her while she was buying something at the Opon Public Market in the guise of seeking help.

Cordova said one of the suspects first approached her and introduced herself as a businesswoman who was looking for a mechanic to repair her vehicle which broke down.

Abapo said the “businesswoman” told the victim that she badly needed help because her vehicle was loaded with shrimps. Since she didn’t know any mechanic the victim told the suspect that she could not help her.

It was at this instance that the second suspect joined them and told the “businesswoman” that she knows somebody who can repair her vehicle.

The first suspect then told the victim that she would entrust to her a pouch full of money as she would be going with the second suspect to get her vehicle. The first suspect also instructed the victim to go to a certain mall and wait for her there and reminded her once again to take care of her pouch as it contained P50,000 in cash.

Abapo said that before leaving, the suspect convinced the victim to hand over her valuables as a guarantee that she would wait for her in the mall.

Abapo added that when the victim reached the mall, she waited for the suspect to claim the pouch. After a few hours of waiting, the victim told the police that she became suspicious, and out of curiosity decided to check on the contents of the pouch.

It was then that she realized that she was duped as the pouch contained nothing but pieces of rolled paper and not P50,000 as the suspect told her earlier.

On her Facebook post, Cordova said that it was as if she was hypnotized by the suspect making her hand over her valuables which she claimed included her ATM card, watch, necklace, wallet, around P2,000 cash, identification cards, among others.

She said that she was accompanied to the police station by people who saw her and reported this incident to the station. The police also went with her in checking her bank account which she found out had nothing left.

Lapu-Lapu police then coordinated with the neighboring stations and allowed the victim to look at their roque profiles. The victim positively identified one of the suspects, who is from Cebu City but remains at large as of this posting.

Abapo refused to disclose the identity of the suspect pending her arrest.

Regardless, he reminds the public to stay cautious when talking and extending help to strangers.   /rcg