Online scammer arrested as police step up fight against cybercrime

Agents of the PNP have arrested a notorious female online scammer in an entrapment operation in Cainta, Rizal on Sunday.

29-year-old Cherry Lyn Guachi Banala who goes by the name ‘Angel Pangilinan’ was arrested in a stepped-up effort by police to clamp down the growing number of scams being reported over the past six months.

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The PNP in Rizal said they have had more than 200 online scam reports posted since January.

philippines scam alert, Female Online Scammer Arrested
Notorious Female Online Scammer Arrested in Rizal – www.plnmedia.com

Banala was arrested when she attempted to claim the money sent to her by her latest victim in a remittance centre in Cainta. Cybercrime police arrested the suspect after she claimed the money.

Recovered from the Banala was the 1,250 pesos sent to her, three mobile phones, a micro SD card, and a personal identification card.

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Banala will face charges of swindling and estafa in violation of Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code – section #6 of Republic Act 10175 or (the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012).

Latest Case Against Online Scammers

The latest case against Banala was filed by Chelsea Arcilla, a resident of Quezon City. Arcilla’s complaint said that on July 12, she was surfing the internet when an advertisement appeared on her screen offering a 16gb Gold Iphone6 for only 13,000 pesos.

Arcilla then contacted the seller (Banala) and agreed she would send the initial 9,000 pesos down-payment for the phone. The seller promised to send the cell phone via the Partas Bus station in Cubao.

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After depositing the money into G-Cash, Arcilla informed the seller via her Facebook account that the money was there.

The seller then instructed Arcilla to enroll in a BPI account for SMS bank transfer to pay the remaining balance – that’s when Arcilla noticed the her 8,800 pesos balance had been withdrawn from her account.

Police said the history of the buyer’s online banking system revealed that the money was transferred to a GXI Sett Account using a mobile transaction number.

Police believe that the arrested suspect is just a collector for the online scams and is part of a larger syndicate. They noted that Banala is the “chatter” person who engages online buyers and brings them into their system.

“This arrest should serve as a warning to the public to be wary of online scams, which could rip off an unsuspecting individual of his or her hard-earned money. As records show, online scammers are the number one cybercrime perpetrators, with 202 cases from January to June this year alone,” police said.