Live within your means.

This was the lesson learned too late by a 36-year-old woman who allegedly duped her best friend into selling her a Louis Vuitton bag—which later turned out to be too expensive for her to afford. 

As a result, the woman ended up in jail after she was arrested based on the complaint of her best friend, according to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG).

CIDG director Maj Gen. Robert AA Morico II said the incident also strained the decades-long good relationship between the suspect and the complainant who was forced to seek police assistance over the former's failure to settle the payment.

“As a background, the complainant and accused are childhood friends, they have known each other since elementary and high school and they were neighbors in Sampaloc, Manila,” said Morico.

In January last year, Morico said the victim posted luxury items she bought in Japan on her Facebook post with the intention of selling them.

The suspect then messaged the complainant that she was interested in the Louis Vuitton bag that costs P150,000.

After the delivery of the bag, the suspect issued two checks amounting to P75,000 each as payment.

At that time, Morico said the suspect knew that she did not have money in the back and the complainant only learned this when she tried to deposit the amount to her bank account.

Despite the repeated demand to at least return the item, the suspect allegedly failed to do so.

CIDG operatives arrested the suspect after the arrest warrant was issued against her by a Pasig City court for a case of Estafa Article 315, paragraph 2(d) of the Revised Penal Code.

“This underscores the commitment of CIDG to help all victims attain the justice they deserved- from investigation, filing of complaints, monitoring for the arrest warrant and capturing the accused- at once,” said Morico.