A woman who was about to bring her husband home from a hospital in Manila was scammed of P100,000 by a suspect who pretended to be a hospital staff.

In a media interview, the victim said that the suspect introduced herself as a staff of one of her husband’s doctors and offered them a discount through online transactions.

“Ang pakilala po niya sa akin is si Mariella M. Dela Cruz daw po siya. Manager officer daw po siya nung isang doctor po nung husband ko po. Kilalang-kilala po kasi nila yung doctor, kung ano po yung doctor kaya naniwala po kami na makaka discount po kami (She introduced herself as Mariella M. Dela Cruz, a managerial officer of one of my husband’s doctors. They know the doctor very well, so we believed her when she said we could get a discount),” she said.

They were even more convinced when they saw that the account number to which they had to send the money to was registered under the name of one of her husband’s doctors.

After the transaction was made online, one of the hospital staff contacted the doctor mentioned by the suspect, only to find out that the person the victim had spoken to was actually a scammer.

The victim said they are now facing difficulty finding money to bring her husband home, as hospital bills continued to pile up. She said this incident might trigger another heart attack for her husband.

"Yung stress po kasi na dinadala sa kaniya [husband] na nag stay pa po kami sa hospital, mas nahihirapan po kasi siya. Baka po kasi magkaroon na naman po siya ng heart attack (My husband is stressed, and staying at the hospital is making it harder for him. I'm worried he might have another heart attack),” she cried.

The victim is now seeking help from the Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime office to trace and identify the suspect.