BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — A 24-year-old Russian national was arrested in Bacolod over the weekend for allegedly using fake credit cards in purchasing items from a mobile phone shop here.Oqil Oqilov was arrested after Lina Aguero of PO’s Marketing Digital Araneta Branch, complained to the police that the Russian national bought cellular phones from them costing P29,990 last Thursday using a fake Banco de Oro credit card.
Aguero said Oqilov had wanted to buy another phone from them last Saturday using a fake Metrobank card when he was arrested.
In an interview, Oqoliv said he has been staying in the Philippines for almost three years now, and that he came to Bacolod to visit his girlfriend who lives in Brgy. Mandalagan.
Oquilov said a Filipino gave him the fake credit cards, admitting that aside from PO’s Marketing, he also used the fake cards to purchase several items from other stores in Bacolod.
Bacolod City Police Director Senior Supt. Ricardo de la Paz said that aside from PO’s Marketing, representatives of AQ Optical and the PhotoLine in two big malls here, also positively identified Oqilov as the customer who used fake credit cards to purchase their items.
De la Paz said Oqilov and his companions may be part of a syndicate operating nationwide, whose specialty is using fake credit cards to acquire the items they want.
The police said Oqilov allegedly has two other companions from Antipolo town in Rizal province whose names are being withheld pending their arrests.
This should serve as a lesson to credit card companies to improve their safety measures and such incidents will not happen again, he said.
Dela Paz also said they are investigating whether Oqilov is indeed a Russian national, because he speaks English fluently.
This, as the Bureau of Immigration in Bacolod City said it has no records of Oqilov. BI Bacolod Alien control officer Mita Chuvy Arguelles said they are coordinating with their agency’s intelligence division to verify the status of Oqilov.
The BI-Bacolod will submit his pictures and the report of police station 1 to the main office in Metro Manila, Arguelles added. - THE FREEMAN