A 42-YEAR-OLD resident from Barangay Centro, Mandaue City involved in the business of e-wallet cash-in and cash-out transactions fell victim to a scam and lost P40,000 from his digital wallet.
Rene Orbiso, who has been doing cash-in and cash-out transactions for three years now, was just sitting outside the Mandaue City Health Office around noon last Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, when an unidentified woman approached him, asking if she could cash out P45,000.
In an interview with SunStar Cebu on Wednesday, Oct. 23, he recalled telling the woman that he only had P40,000 in his digital wallet, but the woman agreed to proceed with the transaction.
He asked for her GCash number to complete the transaction, but the number she provided showed that it was unregistered, based on the red notification on the app.
Failed attempts
He said the woman then suggested that she enter the number herself, convincing him to hand over his phone.
He said after a series of failed attempts to complete the transaction, the woman returned his phone and left on board a waiting taxi.
Upon receiving his phone, he checked his GCash account and found that his entire balance of P40,000 was gone.
Realizing what had happened, he said the woman had likely accessed the one-time password sent to his phone to complete the fraudulent transfer.
Recalling what happened that day, the agent felt as if he had been hypnotized.
“I think I was hypnotized at that moment, I was dazed because I didn’t expect that it was a scam,” he said
in Cebuano.
He sought the help of authorities to help him identify the woman and recover his money. He also filed a police blotter at the Mandaue City Police Station. / CAV