Scammers targeting lawmakers nabbed

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Christopher “Bong” Go revealed yesterday how two men allegedly attempted to extort money from him and other public officials by pretending to be former Camarines Sur representative Arnulfo Fuentebella.

In a press conference at national police headquarters, Go said that Dennis Jose Borbon and Edgar Bularan, who were arrested the other day, allegedly used a Viber messaging app account with Fuentebella’s photo as profile picture, asking him for financial assistance.

Borbon and Bularan were presented to the media at a news conference yesterday, a day after their arrest in an entrapment operation in Malabon.

A third suspect, Menard Greg Bassa, was arrested in a separate entrapment in Camarines Sur.

The neophyte senator bared that the suspects have allegedly victimized several other lawmakers using the same scheme.

“They used Viber, and the account had the face of congressman Fuentebella. They have victimized so many persons already,” Go said.

Go recounted how the suspects last Sunday night solicited help for the youth sector in Bicol, asking him for P25,000.

“They told me how I lost in Bicol in the last elections. They told me I could do better next time,” Go told reporters, saying his suspicions prompted him to contact Fuentebella, who denied he sent the messages.

To investigate further, Go asked his staff to confirm if the account was real by depositing one peso in the account under the name “Dennis Jose P. Borbon” provided by the alleged scammer. 

Go then contacted one of the suspects, who was still pretending to be Fuentebella, and jokingly told him to withdraw the money and use it to buy a coffin that fit him.

Go recounted that the suspect deactivated the Viber account after the call.

All the opposition’s men

The senator also alleged that the suspects were the same people tapped by opposition figures, namely former senators Bam Aquino, Antonio Trillanes IV and former Magdalo representative Gary Alejano, to run a smear campaign against him and other administration figures during the campaign for the 2019 elections. 

He added that authorities found out that several opposition figures and lawmakers had funded the activities meant to smear the administration. 

Borbon, one of the suspects caught by the Philippine National Police (PNP), admitted that he personally knows Peter Joemel Advincula who earlier claimed to have been the hooded man named “Bikoy” in the “Ang Totoong Narcolist” videos.

Borbon also alleged that the opposition contacted him and his group to conduct a supposed black propaganda against the Duterte administration and its allies and that P20,000 to P40,000 were deposited in their accounts monthly.

Aquino, however, denied yesterday hiring an alleged scammer for an online smear campaign against administration candidates in the recent elections.

“Borbon lacks attention and it is clear that he was diverting the narrative so authorities could forget the crimes he has committed,” Aquino said in a statement.

The former senator said Borbon had no moral ascendancy to make such allegations, being a “scammer” and all.

“We have no involvement with him. Let’s not believe people like Borbon who is a con artist and involved with scams,” Aquino added.

Fuentebella, Lacson, Mikee Romero, Vice Gov. Jolo Revilla and other officials victimized by the scam are set to file charges against the suspects.

Asked where he got the numbers of the legislators, Borbon said they accessed them through the “dark web.”

The dark web is a term that refers to a collection of websites that exist on an encrypted network and cannot be found by using traditional search engines or standard browsers.

In an interview, Fuentebella called for higher penalties to curtail these scams. 

Borbon and Bularan have been booked on charges related to swindling and for violating the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

Go has also asked the PNP to probe the possible involvement of the suspects and key opposition figures he mentioned.