SENATOR Manny Villar said the help of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) was sought to finally put a stop to the text scam using the name of the Villar Foundation, which he chairs.
Villar said he met with NBI Director Nonnatus Caesar Rojas and got the commitment that the bureau’s Anti-Fraud Unit will investigate the matter.
“I asked Director Rojas to prioritize this. We will be turning over to the NBI the reports we have collected so they can properly act on this,” he added.
Villar, also the Nacionalista Party president, said this scam discredits the foundation that has been in the forefront of programs to benefit the marginalized sectors of society.
Earlier, the foundation managing director, Cynthia Villar, denied that the foundation is sponsoring an ongoing raffle promo.
One text message, coming from a certain Rodel Enriquez, states: “Congratulations, your SIM number won P580,000 from the Villar Foundation for its 20th anniversary, per DTI-NCR permit no. 0328 Series 2012.”
“The scammers even included in the message a DTI permit number and the name of a person, who is misrepresenting himself as my secretary, to make it appear legitimate. However, we would like to inform the public that the Villar foundation has no ongoing raffle promos or contests,” said Mrs. Villar.
Another version of the text says there is a Pamaskong Handog by the Villar Foundation.
Mrs. Villar also urged all those who will receive the bogus text message to immediately report to their office, contact details of which can be found on its website http://www.villarfoundation.org.
“The only thing true or factual about the text scam is that Villar Foundation is celebrating its 20th year anniversary,” said the former Las Piñas representative, who added that this is not the first time that text scams were circulated to malign the Villar name.
In 2010, text messages claiming to be from Senator Villar’s alleged housing foundation “Handog-Pabahay sa OFW” and promising cash rewards for overseas Filipino workers, also circulated. (Zaldy Comanda)