Thursday, May 25, 2006
NBI files charges v. namedroppers for forged checks
Be wary of namedroppers.
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has filed a criminal complaint against two people who, dropping the names of three public officials, allegedly duped a businesswoman into parting with almost P300,000 in clothing, jewelry and fashion accessories.
In return, she received three forged checks.
Nicanor and Maryann Ongson, according to the complaint, would have also ran off with P25,000 in cash, on top of the P289,557.59 in items, had prudence on the part of the victim, Haidee Chan, not stepped in.
Chan said the two claimed to be personal friends of Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia, Mayor Tomas Osmeña and Sen. Manuel Villar when they first met and discussed business.
Engineers
They also allegedly misrepresented themselves as civil engineers engaged in the loans and construction business, and even offered to lend her P1 million as additional capital for her RTW business in the Mango Square Mall.
In her affidavit, Chan narrated how she met one of the two respondents last Feb. 11, 2006 on a passenger vessel bound for Cebu City from Cagayan de Oro.
She said Maryann approached her first, expressed her interest to buy some of her stocks and set a business meeting as soon as they reached Cebu City.
A day after arriving, Chan said, they met inside the Mango Square Mall at 9 a.m. and proceeded to her Mandaue home to look at her entire supply of items.
Maryann supposedly left but came back in the afternoon, bringing Nicanor with her. She identified Nicanor as her husband.
Counterfeit
According to Chan, Maryann selected some items from her stock and, in payment, gave her two checks—a Philippine National Bank check drawn from a Social Security System account and a Land Bank check drawn from a Government Service Insurance System account—as payment.
She said she initially declined to accept the checks but the two assured her that these were good because they were drawn from government accounts.
And since the check was larger than the cost of the items, the two demanded change for P25,000.
“The following day, when I presented the checks issued by Maryann to be encashed, the banks disapproved the checks for the reason that they were counterfeit,” Chan lamented. (KNR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (May 25, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board.Click here. |
