CEBU CITY – A woman from Oriental Mindoro was accused of duping a female deaf-mute in what authorities described as a “romance scam.”
The National Bureau of Investigation-Central Visayas (NBI-7) identified the suspect as Anna Lou Abas Agito of Aurora Boulevard, Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro.
The suspect was charged with two counts of violation of Section 2 of Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code in relation to Section 6 of the Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
In a statement released to the media on Wednesday, August 9, the deception started on March 20 this year when the suspect chatted with the victim on social media using the username @tylor_chani.instagram and @AM Honest.telegram.
The suspect pretended to be a man and introduced herself as Tylor from the United Kingdom.
The suspect claimed to be a half-Malaysian-Chinese with a British father.
The suspect used the nickname Chan and used the photo of a Korean celebrity as her profile picture.
The NBI-7 said the suspect started courting the victim and it was on April 3 when she started calling the victim “my love.”
With the suspect incessantly wooing her, the victim apparently fell in love with the scammer, the NBI-7 said.
As they continued communicating, the suspect pretended that she was sick and asked financial support from the victim.
The unsuspecting victim willingly helped the suspect and sent at least P59,000 from April 8 to 11 to the scammer.
The suspect also made the victim believe that she was willing to marry her.
The suspect goaded the victim to buy her an iPhone12 pro and in return she would go to the Philippines to marry her.
“Trust me, I’m gonna marry you. I’ve gotten the wedding ring already,” read the suspect's chat.
The victim gave in to the suspect's demand.
The suspect went on to “pressure” the victim to send her more money.
The suspect also goaded the victim to pawn her jewelry in an apparent attempt to milk more money from her.
The NBI-7 said the suspect started giving the victim a cold shoulder when she could no longer provide what the suspect was asking from her.
When her supposed lover started ignoring her, the victim got depressed.
The victim’s mother noticed that she was not in her usual self.
The mother looked into what was bothering her daughter and went to find out that she had fallen prey to a scammer.
The mother was able to secure screenshots of the exchanges of the scammer and her daughter and sought help from the NBI-7.
The NBI-7 said that their counterparts in Oriental Mindoro have tried to serve a subpoena but the suspect “has been very elusive.”