MANILA — A man in Metro Manila lost about P100,000 in what can be described as a “love scam.”
Harvey, not his real name, matched on a dating app with a certain Lee, who claimed to be a Singaporean working in the Philippines for about 3 months.
Their interaction reached a certain point to where they would exchange sweet messages and even had terms of endearment for each other.
Harvey admitted that he was starting to fall for Lee, even though they haven’t seen each other in person and only did a 10-second video call.
Eventually, they moved to a messaging app where they continued their communication and a few days later, Lee asked him to invest in cryptocurrency, asserting that his aunt in Singapore knows when would be the best time to trade to earn big.
“Sabi niya naka-earn siya halos $2,000-4,000 sa trading kasi sabi niya tita niya sa Singapore professor of economics at saka siya nagti-timbre sa kanya if magandang earnings during that date or time, kikita ka 10% in less than 5 mins,” Harvey told ABS-CBN News.
He then downloaded the app asked by Lee and clicked a link to a website and registered.
Initially, Harvey invested only $400 (around P22,000) and eventually got his money.
But Lee then told about a “newcomer bonus” and asked him to send a message to the customer service of the app, to which he did.
However, the customer service told Harvey that he needs to invest $3,000 (around P166,000) to get the bonus and withdraw his money — which, at that time, was already over $600.
He asked Lee for help, to which Lee offered to pay $1,200 (around P66,000), while Harvey paid for the remaining $1,800 (around P99,000) needed.
When Harvey asked the customer service if he could withdraw the money since he has already reached the $3,000 investment requirement, he was told that he had to trade first before being able to withdraw it.
Harvey said that even though he had already traded, the customer service later said that he still can’t withdraw his money as it is linked to two addresses, which was supposedly not allowed.
He was then asked by the customer service to pay an additional $1,200.
Harvey pleaded as he had already invested more than P100,000.
He now thinks that there is a possibility that Lee and the customer service personnel may be the same person, or are in cahoots with each other.
Cybersecurity analyst Art Samaniego believed this is a case of a “love scam” and advanced fee scam. He said scammers play with the emotions of victims who would then follow the command of the scammer.
“Kukunin muna loob, pagkatapos kukunin ang tiwala. ‘Pag nagtiwala ka na sa kanila… love is blind, susunod ka na sa pang-uuto nila,” said Samaniego.
He added that there be might be no crypto investment at all as the app or website may have been fake or tampered.
The Blockchain Council of the Philippines also urged the public to be extra vigilant and to study the investment proposal properly.
“You need to learn kung ano papasukin mo, ‘yun ‘yung number one talaga. Hindi dahil sinabi ng kaibigan mo o sinabi lang ng kasama mo [ay] paniniwalaan mo,” said Chezka Gonzales of the Blockchain Council of the Philippines.
Samaniego also urged the public not to download apps sent by unknown individuals, not to entertain investment offers from people they have not met and not to give out personal information to anyone.
Harvey has already filed a complaint before the NBI Anti-Cybercrime Division.
He is hopeful he can still get his money back and more importantly, that the syndicate behind the scam would be punished.
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