The arrested suspect (photo: PNP-ACG)
A 21-year old man from Sampaloc, Manila was insulted and harshly bashed on social media for allegedly stealing the artworks of a fellow tattoo artist and advertising all of them as his own.
The problem, however, is that he is not that tattoo artist, and he is not even a tattoo artist!
Fortunately, agents of the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) stepped in and arrested the suspect in another case of identity theft on the social media, particularly Facebook.
Col. Jay Guillermo, chief of the Cyber Response Unit of the PNP-ACG, said suspect Josefernan Vecina was arrested in an entrapment operation in Sampaloc, Manila at 3:41 a.m. on Tuesday, March 5.
He said the operation stemmed from the complaint of Aldern Pol Datu who said that the suspect used his picture on a Facebook account of a certain Ferjo Vecina, a 22-year old tattoo artist from Pasig City.
Datu told the ACG operatives that he was browsing Facebook when he came across the account of a certain Ferjo Vecina which used his photo as a profile picture.
What bothered Datu was that he also came across another tattoo artist who was furious as Vecina for allegedly stealing his ideas.
As a result, Guillermo said the victim was branded as a scammer in different social media platforms.
Datu then sought assistance from the PNP-ACG which in turn formed a team headed by Capt. Marlon Flores to conduct the entrapment.
“The victim, in order to identify the person behind the said Facebook account, used another person to book an appointment for a tattoo session with the suspect. It was then that the suspect was arrested,” said Guillermo.
Guillermo said the suspect is now facing a case of violation of Section 4 of the Republic Act No. 10175, or the “Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012”—the case is related to computer-related identity theft.