CEBU CITY – The National Bureau of Investigation-Central Visayas (NBI 7) has filed a criminal complaint against a woman who allegedly posed as Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia to solicit money from a teacher in Daanbantayan, Cebu.
The NBI 7 filed the complaint against Conchita Traya on Monday, Oct. 3, before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.
In a statement, the NBI 7 said Traya, of Barangay Lucena, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, committed computer-related identity theft in violation of Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
The filing of the complaint stemmed from an incident last June 27.
The NBI 7 said Herbert Cañete received a message in his Instagram account. The message came from an Instagram account @gwendolyn_garcia.
“I’m contacting as pertaining the non-government organization fund raising going on, I’m imploring every citizens to help this fund raiser with at least 100,000 minimum, Kindly let me know how you would be able to be of help as this is an urgent case to attend to,” read the message that the teacher received.
The teacher told the sender that he could only donate P5,000 but the poser demanded for an additional P5,000, the NBI 7 said.
Suspecting that he was dealing with a scammer, the teacher sent P5 to the poser through a number under the name of Schita Tra.
The poser then asked the teacher to send a receipt of the transaction to prove that he indeed sent cash. The teacher edited the transaction receipt to make it appear that he sent P5,000 and not P5.
The teacher took a screenshot of their conversation and sent it to Daanbantayan Mayor Sun Shimura. The screenshot was then forwarded to the governor who denied making such solicitation.
Acting on the governor’s request to have the matter investigated, the NBI 7 then applied for a warrant to disclose computer data to trace the sender who tried to dupe the teacher using the governor’s name.
Judge Ramon Daomilas of Branch 11 of the Regional Trial Court in Cebu City issued the warrant which was served in Taguig City.
Through the serving of the warrant to disclose computer data, the NBI 7 found out that the number was registered under the name of Chita Eniza Tra.
The investigation led to Traya as she submitted her voter’s ID issued by the Commission on Elections for the creation of her mobile wallet account.
“It (voter’s ID) was maliciously defaced so that the real name will be hidden. However, Conchita was betrayed by her own signature in the same document. She signed her voter’s ID with her complete name Conchita C. Traya,” the NBI 7.
The NBI 7 added that the woman has at least five Facebook accounts and four of them bear her real name and had profile photos which matched with her selfie photo that was used when she registered for a mobile wallet.
It said the woman “illegally acquired, used, and misused the identity and other identifying information of Gov. Garcia without right in order to mislead and exploit the public for money.”