Investment scam victims visit the CIDG-7 office on Tuesday, June 13. | Futch Anthony Inso
LAPU-LAPU CITY, Cebu – A group of five individuals sought the assistance of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Central Visayas (CIDG-7) after they were allegedly victimized by an investment scam.
The complainants point at a certain Reina Jane Lopez, a 29-year-old resident of Barangay Upper Casili in Mandaue City, as the alleged scammer.
They told CIDG-7 operatives that Lopez allegedly took a total of P3 million from them and several other investors with a promise to return their money with interest on June 10.
But they have not been able to locate nor reach Lopez since the promised date.
CDN Digital is yet to get a statement from Lopez.
‘Paluwagan’
Mae (not her real name), 31, alleged that Lopez invited her to invest in her “paluwagan,” which is an informal form of savings and lending money, with a promise of a 15 percent interest.
The Barangay Canduman resident said she trusted Lopez because she personally knew her and her family.
Mae made her first investment of P10,000 early in May 2023. She was promised a 15 percent interest per week and received the interest as promised through e-wallet.
With this, she was convinced by Lopez to make additional investments. She shelled out a total of P300,000 for the “paluwagan’ business of Lopez.
Mae said the last time that she received the interest of her investment was last June 5. Her next collection scheduled would have been June 10.
In their last conversation, Lopez had promised to personally deliver to her home cash amounting to P24,000 since she would no longer be able to send the said amount through e-wallet.
Lopez, according to her, promised to see her at 2 p.m. She waited until 10 p.m. but Lopez never showed up.
“Ako pa siya giingnan sir nga dili siya dapat mo kompyansa pagkuha sa kwarta kay dako kaayo nga kantidad pero ang iyang giingong nga okay ra daw. Safe ra daw ang kwarta. Sus niabot nalang ang 10 p.m. wala gyud ug nag-deactivate na sa iyang [Facebook] page,” Mae said.
Other investors
Just like Mae, the other investors of the ‘paluwagan’ business were also asking for Lopez in the group chat that she earlier created.
Ryan, another complainant, said that he and his common-law partner invested P180,000 in the ‘paluwagan.’ They have so far received interest of P18,000.
He said that he loaned the money which he gave to Lopez.
Ryan said that other investors of the ‘paluwagan’ business come from Mindanao.
“Daghan kaayo mi. Ang uban ani naa sa Mindanao. Nakahatag sad ug dagko. Mao na nga mo-file gyud mi niyag reklamo aron makuha namo ang among kwarta,” he said.
The group first sought the assistance of DYHP-RMN Cebu which referred their concern to CIDG-7.
Cash reward
Desperate to recover her investments, Mae said she posted a photo of Lopez on her Facebook page and made an offer to give a P50,000 cash reward for information that would lead to her whereabouts.
A CIDG-7 operative told the complainants that they would be writing a letter addressed to Lopez to ask her to respond to the accusations against her within a period of five days.
If she fails to respond, CIDG-7 would initiate the filing of a complaint for large-scale estafa against her with the Mandaue City Prosecutor’s Office.
CIDG-7 has also requested the complainants to prepare pieces of evidence and documents that they could use to support the complaint against Lopez.
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