A WOMAN engaged in online selling was arrested by operatives of the National Bureau of Investigation-Central Visayas (NBI 7) on Tuesday, July 12, 2022, after she was caught in the act of selling fake taxpayer identification number (TIN) cards to customers.
NBI 7 operatives arrested Lordelyn Viloria Caballero at her house in Villa Bulsita in Barangay Bulacao, Cebu City during an entrapment.
During the NBI operation on Tuesday, operatives were able to seized 43 newly designed TIN cards that bear a QR code and 26 cards with an old design. They also confiscated nine fake PhilHealth cards.
NBI 7 Director Rennan Augustus Oliva said on Thursday, July 14, told reporters that they initially found Caballero’s illegal operations through information they had secured from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
The entrapment operation was conducted upon the request of the BIR’s Caraga office following reports they had received that some of their clients complained about being made to pay just to get a TIN card.
Though BIR-issued TIN cards can be claimed for free, the fake ones cost around P120 for old TIN cards and P300 for the new ones, Oliva added.
Caballero initially operated a T-shirt printing business and often engaged with her customers through her online page.
Denial
But Caballero denied the NBI 7’s allegations, adding that she was merely a reseller and not the one who printed and made the cards.
“Dili man akoy nag-print ana. Naa lang gyoy tig encode, tighimo ana. Ako reseller lang pod ko ana. Kay ang giingon sa encoder ana kay siya trabahante daw siya og BIR so naka ana ko na ay kani legit, nya pagka arrest nako nga nahibaw-an nako nga invalid diay ang uban nga ID,” she added.
(I am not the one printing it. Somebody else created the cards. I am just a reseller. The encoder said he works at BIR, so I thought it was a legitimate transaction, but it was only during my arrest that I realized some IDs were invalid.)
However, the NBI 7 discovered that Caballero also has her own network of resellers whom she assigns the manufacturing of fake TIN cards and other documents.
Oliva, a lawyer, said Caballero has also used her online business as a front for her illegal operations.
Caballero is set to face charges for violation of Section 257 (B) of the National Internal Revenue Code (Tax Code) and Republic Act 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.