Elderly woman loses more than P50K in e-wallet modus

A senior citizen in Escalante City, Negros Occidental lost thousands of money in an e-wallet modus.

The victim’s son said the suspect reportedly managed to link his mother’s e-wallet account to the suspect’s online shopping platform, which allowed the suspect to siphon money from the victim.

The money stolen amounted to P52,850.

The son, Neil Montaner, said the suspect went to their shop purportedly to cash some money into his own e-wallet. This means that, for a fee, money could be transferred into his account.

However, the suspect reportedly did not receive in his phone the one-time password (OTP) necessary for the transaction to be completed. It was at this point that the suspect volunteered to check the victim’s phone and it was also at this point that he may have accessed the victim’s e-wallet and linked it to the e-commerce platform.

“Pumunta siya mag-cash-in raw siya sa shop. Kung maaga pa, nandiyan ang bayaw ko. Siya (ang suspek) ang nag-initiate na magpa-cash in. Within lang minutes, na-link. Two days niya na kinuha ang amount. Grabe ang kanyang discarte,” Montaner said.

He said that when they realized what had happened, the suspect had already siphoned money from his mother’s e-wallet for two days.

They have reported the incident to the police.

A CCTV camera also captured the incident on video.

The Negros Occidental Police Provincial Office described the elderly as a “targeted victim.”

“Tinatawag na targeted victim kasi matatanda. Ginagamit niya ang OTP. Inubos niya ang load. HIndi ma-trace. Tinitingnan nila kung matanda, eventually, iyan na, magresulta ng scam,” said Capt. Judesses Catalogo. —GMA Regional TV