Mom thought she won P100,000, but instead lost P20,000 to man using Willie Revillame’s name

A mother from Balamban town lost P20,000 after she was deceived that she won P100,000 from a TV program.

CEBU CITY, Philippines — A 42-year-old mother in Balamban town sought the help of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7) on Monday, Feb. 6, 2023 after she lost P20,000 to someone, who claimed to be a member of the staff of TV host Willie Revillame.

The victim, who has three daughters, said that the only thing that she wanted was to have her money back.

She said that the money that the scammer or scammers took were savings for her daughters and money borrowed from her neighbors.

The mom from Balamban claimed that the the money lost was accumulated since October last year when she started sending “processing money” for her winning P100,000 allegedly for commenting on a post of Revillame’s online live program.

She also said that she sought the help of the CIDG-7 only today, Feb. 6, because the people she owed money to had already asked for her payment of the money they loaned her.

Woes of mom started in Oct. 2022

According to the victim, the incident started last Oct. 25, 2022 after someone called her that she won P50,000 when she commented her number during Revillame’s FB live program at that time.

“Naay nitawag. Pagtawag tingug ni Willie unya naputol ang tawag kay gisawo sa staff kuno siya ni Willie. Niana ang nidrop sa tawag nga ‘Sige Sir Willie, kami na ang bahala nito,” the victim said.

(Somebody called. The I heared the voice of Willie [Revillame] then the call was dropped, and then somebody spoke on the phone claiming that he was a member of the staff of Willie. The person, who dropped the call, said ‘Okay, Sir Willie, I’ll take care of this.)

However, later on, she was asked to pay for processing fee and then sent money through a mobile app worth P2,750. A few days later, the caller again called her and told her that she won an additional P50,000 plus life insurance.

However, the caller then asked her additional payment for this worth P4,500, which she sent last Oct. 28 through a mobile app, and additional payments were made until it reached P20,000.

According to the mom from Balamban, the caller was a man while the money receiver was a woman based on the details that the victim saw from the mobile app.

She said that she started asking the man, why she would have to still send more money to him, the latter started gaslighting her.

“Ay maam ako pa ang sisisihin nyo kayo nga pa ang tinutulungan (Maam, I am the one you are blaming for this when I am the one helping you) ,” the caller told her when she asked about the series of payments they sent to the caller.

Borrowed money, savings for kids

The mom from Balamban said that she was worried because her neighbors had already asked that she pay the money that they loaned her.

That is aside from the savings that she lost.

“Mabalik lang unta among kwarta kay allowance tos amoang anak intawon uy. Ako man na gisavings savings ako mga anak ginagmay,” the victim said.

(I hope that the money will be returned to us because that is allowance for my children. Those are my little by little savings for my children.)

The victim said that she believed that she really won because she was hoping this would turn her life for the better but instead it was the other way around.

With her situation now, she was forced to seek help to the CIDG-7 hoping to have her money returned to her.

 The CIDG-7, on the other hand, reminded the public again to not believe anyone who would call and inform them that they had won a certain amount.

The CIDG-7 also promised  to help the victim from Balamban town and to conduct investigation about this incident.

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