A visiting Bureau of Immigration (BI) officer said to be careful of a new scam perpetuated by “online boyfriends” who take advantage of Filipino women.
According to Atty. Floro Balato, Jr., acting chief of the BI Port Operations Division, a Filipino woman recently lost P50,000 after her online boyfriend promised to visit her in the Philippines to get married.
The “online boyfriend” would woo the girl, then will promise to go to the Philippines to get married. They then would make arrangements to pick up the boyfriend in the airport.
Once the boyfriend has supposedly arrived at the airport, the victim will receive a phone call from an alleged BI official.
The BI official would then say that the boyfriend is being detained in the airport and is not allowed to enter the country. He would then ask that P50,000 be deposited in Western Union so that the boyfriend can be released.
Once the victim has done so, she went to the BI office in tears and asking to see her husband-to-be.
Once the BI has checked their records, they would discover that no such foreigner of that name has entered the Philippines. This is when the victim would find out she had been scammed.
Balato advised Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong to be wary of men they meet online.
Via hknews
