By MARTIN A. SADONGDONG
The Philippine National Police (PNP) advised the public yesterday to be vigilant when engaging in online investment plans as a new scam involving the use of cryptocurrencies was discovered by authorities.
This, as PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa presented yesterday at Camp Crame in Quezon City a couple who allegedly amassed over P900 million from at least 56 victims using cryptocurrencies, particularly bitcoin. They came face-to-face with over 50 victims of the new scam who trooped to the national police headquarters.
Dela Rosa identified the suspects as Arnel Ordonio, 27, and his wife, Leonady, the registered owners of NewG, a company which allegedly solicited investments from unsuspecting investors. The couple were arrested in an entrapment operation conducted by the PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) last April 4.
“If you encounter a scheme that is too good to be true, that is already a scam. Don’t let yourself be fooled and back out immediately,” Dela Rosa said.
He added that he was speaking from experience as he was once victimized by a scam when he was a low-ranking police officer in Davao City.
BITCOIN SCAM
According to CIDG chief Roel Obusan, the couple was using their NewG company online to attract investors wherein the amounts of investment range from P90,000 to P160,000.
Obusan said that the victims were easily lured because bitcoin investment has already become a new trend, and the suspects were promising them of a 30-percent return of investment (ROI) within 16 days. This means that if an investor placed a minimum of R90,000 investment, one will get a P27,000 ROI and the total money would be P117,000 in 16 days.
“During the first and second transactions, they will give you the promised return of investment. After that, they will be completely gone. This is a simple case of estafa and pyramiding,” Obusan said.
He added that they were able to capture the suspects when one of the victims, whose name was withheld as requested, managed to contact the couple. The suspects allegedly asked P2 million from the victim, but the latter had already coordinated with the authorities, which resulted in their arrest.
VICTIMS
One of the victims, Jocelyn Estolas from Malolos, Bulacan, confronted the suspects and pleaded them to return to her the money that she, her other relatives and friends invested, which amounted to P29 million in total.
“From November to December, my husband and I invested around R4 million. That was the first time that we invested money. When we initially saw that we are earning easy money during the first transaction, we encouraged our relatives to invest also,” Estolas said.
In this case, Estolas, who initially was a “downline” or an investor, has already become an “upline” or a recruiter as she encouraged other members to invest in the bogus investment plan.
The first 32 days turned out to be fine, Estolas said, as she and her husband received the promised return of investment from the suspects.
However, on December 18, the victims sensed that something was already off when the suspects said there had been a problem in the transaction and they had to stop giving the victims the initial capital and the return of investment.
“We never got the chance to talk to them personally, only through Facebook messenger. Arnel Ordonio promised us that starting February 28, we will be getting R3 million for five straight days just to be able to return a portion of the capital that we invested. But they never did,” Estolas said.
Another victim, Rosanne Maglunod, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW), said that she was in Dubai when she first invested in the online investment scheme in November.
She said that she placed P90,000 for three slots in her first investment, and the promised return of investment was given to her in the first few transactions.
She then decided to invest all-in or R160,000 for three slots from December to January, and she also encouraged a fellow co-OFW to invest money, thus, making her an “upline” from a “downline.”
“Our only plea is that you return our money because the people whom we encouraged to invest are now threatening us. I am receiving death threats also so please, give us our money back,” Maglunod said.
FOLLOW-UP OPERATION
The PNP chief said that a case for syndicated estafa was already filed before the Department of Justice (DoJ) against the couple.
The suspects refused to comment on the case.
