Classmates of OFW decry alleged online investment scam

The classmates of an overseas Filipino worker were dismayed upon discovering they were victims in an alleged online investment scam.

"Ailyn" (not her real name), one of the victims, narrated how the OFW, her former schoolmate in elementary, invited them in an online investment scam, according to a report by JP Soriano on 24 Oras on Saturday.

According to Ailyn, at least 50% of the invested money will be the income of the online investment in the span of four weeks. Apart from the income, there will also be a free sack of rice for the investors.

Ailyn shared that she started to invest P2,000 and after a few weeks she got her investment with a profit of P1,000.

“Nagdagdag po ako every week ng pera. Bagsak po ako nang bagsak ng pera kasi po maganda yung rolling ng pera. Mabilis po tsaka dinadaan niya po kami sa magandang boka po,” Ailyn said.

(I added money every week. I gave a lot of money because the rolling of money was good and fast, and I was also encouraged by my schoolmate.)

She also persuaded her husband to invest their savings built up over the years due to the good returns.

However, after a few weeks of depositing at least P107,000 of their savings, they were told by the OFW agent that the collector of the money ran away with their invested money.

“Biglang scam na. Ang dami po namin sa batch namin. Niloko niya po kami ng ganoong kabilis. Nai-scam na kami,” Ailyn recounted.

(Suddenly it was a scam. A lot of our schoolmates were deceived. We were scammed very quick.)

Meanwhile, "Rona" (not her real name), another victim, said that she already invested at least P35,000 of their savings in the investment scam.

“'Yun na lang po 'yung natitira ko pong pera. Kumbaga nakikipagsapalaran na lang po kasi nga po sabi niya legit naman daw po eh. Bigla rin pong nawala kaya po masyado po talaga kaming problemado lahat,” Rona said.

(That's all the money I have left. I'm just taking a risk because he said it's legitimate, but he suddenly disappeared, so we were all in trouble.)

The victims have already communicated with the Philippine National Police - Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) to assist them in the investigation.

According to the police, the victims fell for the fraudulent online investment scam called “BiCash.”

“Sila po ay naghulog ng ilang beses at bigla na lang pong nawala ang Facebook page noong investment scam at hanggang ngayon nga po eh hindi na niya mahagilap,” Police Lieutenant Marlon Flores of the fraudulent bank transaction section of the PNP-ACG said.

(They invest several times and suddenly the Facebook page of the investment scam suddenly disappeared and until now they can't find their OFW schoolmate.)

The GMA News team tried to contact the OFW who encouraged the victims in the online investment. However, he did not reply.

Meanwhile, BiCash could no longer be found on social media sites.

The PNP-ACG encouraged the victims of the online investment scam to contact them through their website at https://acg.pnp.gov.ph or hotline number: 0915-589-8506 and 0961-829-8033. —Richa Noriega/KG, GMA News