A 78-year-old retired teacher was duped into parting with her cash and jewelry amounting to some P.6 million by seven glib-talking suspects, three of them women, after coming out of a church yesterday in Valenzuela City.
Senior Inspector Salvador de la Cruz, city police investigation chief, identified the victim as Belen Lounasco, a resident of Barangay Marulas. No arrests have been made yet by the police.
Lounasco told investigators she had just come out of the parish church after hearing Mass, which was part of her daily routine, when four men with three “manangs” (conservatively dressed women) in tow greeted her and engaged her in an animated conversation.
Police said the suspects introduced themselves as members of a religious organization she could not remember and talked piously about prayers and being generous to the poor and the needy.
She said she could not understand why she felt different as the conversation went on. She was also not sure whether she had been hypnotized.
It was not long before she agreed to go with the suspects to an unspecified place in Makati, allegedly for a prayer meeting.
In Makati, she said things turned for the worse when, again she was sweet-talked into withdrawing some P220,000 in cash, her lifetime savings, and jewelry in her bag she estimated at some P380,000.
When she came to her senses, the suspects were gone. It was then that she reported the incident to the local police.
Valenzuela police chief Superintendent Billy Beltran warned the public about the tricks perpetrated by “budol” gang members, mostly on the elderly. The word “budol” is a Visayan term for trickster, according to the police.
He added that these persons usually have some knowledge that their intended victim has money. Beltran said people should not be so trusting and open to strangers.
When these people start talking about your money, it’s time to make an exit, according to Beltran.