PDEA-7 warns public against person who claims to be fiscal, extorts money for dropping cases

PDEA-7 warns the public against scammers who present themselves as fiscals and ask for money from victims offering that they can withdraw their pending drug cases. | from PDEA-7

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Central Visayas (PDEA-7) warns the public against individuals, who introduce themselves as fiscals and extort money in exchange for the withdrawal of illegal drug cases.

Leia Alcantara, PDEA-7 spokesperson, made this statement after they received reports recently from the families of two suspected drug personalities that they arrested in Negros Oriental.

The relatives received a call from a certain Angela delos Santos Reyes, who claimed to be a fiscal and who asked for money in exchange for withdrawing or dropping the pending illegal drug cases of their jailed relatives.

“Usually ang iyahang tawagan kani gyud naay violation for dangerous illegal drugs. Manawag siya. Magpaila siya nga katong Angela delos Santos Reyes unya usa kuno siya ka fiscal nga dako kuno og ranggo…during the conversation, mangayo na dayon siya og kwarta sa family unya iyahang pasaligan nga kung makapagawas og kwarta i-drop ang charges against sa ilahang kabanay,” Alcantara said.

(Usually, she would call those who have violations for dangerous illegal drugs. She would call. She would introduce herself as that Angela delos Santos Reyes and then introduce herself as a fiscal who has a high rank…during the conversation, she would then ask for money to the family and then she would assure them that if they can have and release the money, charges against their relative would be dropped.)

Alcantara said that the relatives, who went to their office, claimed that they handed money to this certain Angela, but they could not provide the exact amount for now.

Upon initial investigation, Alcantara said that they found out that a similar name was also used for this kind of scam, which was also reported in other areas outside Central Visayas, such as in Region 12 or Soccsksargen.

“So mao na we took really the initiative nga i-post lang gyud sa Facebook para mahibawo ang public, especially katong naay family members nga naaresto ba. Kahibawo sila kung naay manawag dapat dili nila ientertain kay pagpangilad gyud to,” Alcantara said.

(So, we really took the initiative to post this in Facebook so that the public may know, especially those family members who have a relative arrested. They now know that if someone will call then they should not entertain that person because that is a person trying to dupe them.)

Aside from posting it on their social media platforms, they also post similar advisories at their respective detention facilities in the region so visitors can read and be informed of this existing scam.

For now, Alcantara said that they would still continue to gather more information about this alleged scammer.

They have also limited the postings or inclusions of personal information of their arrested suspects, including showing off the faces of their arrested suspects, in their press releases as these may be used by scammers in their illegal activities.

“Kay basin og didto sila nanguha isa na sa amoang suspicion or nakamonitor ba ron siya sa balita or other news sources kay nationwide man gud ni. Dili sa region seven nahitabo. Naa sa laing region. Murag nationwide ang iyahang operation” she said.

We suspected that she got the information from there or she monitored news or other news sources because this is a nationwide thing. This did not happen in region seven only. There are other regions. It seems that her operation is nationwide.

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