Woman duped by man posing as ‘Wowowin’ coordinator

A woman claimed to have been duped by a man who posed as a coordinator for a popular variety into collecting about P25,000 from 100 people last Wednesday.

In a report by GMA's Marisol Abdurahman on “24 Oras” on Friday, Annalisa Pelletero recounted how a man called Marc Cua duped her and others out of P250 each to watch the variety show hosted by Willie Revillame.

Pelletero said she met Cua, who introduced himself as a GMA employee, at a miting de avance on May 7.

Cua called her on Wednesday and coaxed her into coordinating a hundred people to watch the taping for Wowowin on Thursday.

He asked Pelletero to collect P250 from each person to pay for the t-shirts he would supposedly deliver before the taping.

“Para uniform kayo. Pero may kapalit ’yun, sabi niyang ganun. Bibigyan kayo ng selpon at tsaka jacket ni Willie. Ikot na po ako nung Wednesday ng hapon. Nag-gather na po ako ng mga tao,” Pelletero recollected.

Cua repeatedly asked Pelletero to deposit the money she was able to collect. By Wednesday evening, she sent P20,000 to Cua.

The agreement was for Marc to deliver 100 t-shirts that would be worn by the people they recruited to watch the taping on Thursday.

But Cua did not show up.

By Thursday morning, Cua called up again and instructed Pelletero to gather the people and they will be fetched by noontime.

There were 100 people gathered at the covered court of Barangay Pinag-sama Village in Taguig City as early as 11 a.m.

Cua then insisted that Pelletero deposit the balance of P5,000. At this point, Pelletero started to doubt Cua's action and she decided against sending the rest of the money. She told him that she would just personally hand over the cash.

After three hours, Cua still did not show up. Pelletero said the people became restless and angry that she decide to file a complaint with the police.

“Nakakasakit ka. Nakakasakit ka talaga. Sobra-sobra yung sinisira mo sa buhay ng isang tao. Sana sana kung nabudol-budol mo ako. Ako lang mag-isa, okay lang ’yun eh. Pero hindi eh. Buong lugar namin,” Pelletero said in an interview.

Police Station 8 Commander Sr. Insp. Jo-Ivan Ballerina warned fans of the show to be wary of offers from supposed employees of networks.

“’Di kagad sila maniwala dun sa mga sabi-sabi lang,” Ballerina said.

Fans of Willie Revillame's show were reminded by the man himself that watching Wowowin's taping is completely free.

“’Wag ho kayong maniniwala na meron kaming staff na nanghihingi ng ganito, na magbibigay ng ganitong pera. Lahat po ng staff namin nandito sa studio lang sa loob ng studio, dito lang kayo entertainin,” Revillame said. — Rie Takumi, BAP, GMA News