Woman “deceives” three lotto outlets

CEBU, Philippines - Three lottery outlets in Cebu City lost almost P30,000 last Friday night to a woman who allegedly deceived tellers to believe that she was claiming cash for her winning tickets.

The suspect reportedly managed to get at least P9,000 from each Lotto outlet in Barangays Lahug, Guadalupe, and Hipodromo which are all branches owned by Marivic Ventura.

The alleged deception was carried out in just three hours starting at 6 pm by a woman, who was described to be about 25 years old, 5’4 tall, chubby, fair-skinned, sporting a long wavy hair, and “decent-looking.”

All three female tellers, Chinbee Pejama, 24, Jay-jay Macapagal, and Evangeline Villarte, 27, narrated to the police the same trick the suspect allegedly used to deceive and convince them to hand over the money she reportedly won.

According to the tellers, the suspect approached the lottery outlets they were manning and asked if they had cash since she just won four tickets.

The tellers allegedly refused since their cash did not reach P9,000 and further informed the woman to call their main branch in Banawa, Guadalupe.

The suspect then asked for the cellphone number of the teller in Banawa, which the tellers gave.

The suspect, through text messages using the number of the teller in Banawa, was able to convince the victims to hand in the P9,000 to her, telling them that the teller in Banawa has her winning tickets.

Senior Insp. William Alicaba, chief of Theft and Robbery Section (TRS), said he will have the incidents thoroughly investigated, suspecting of possible connivance among Ventura’s tellers.

“Gaduda ta sa tellers ug sa suspek na naa’y conni-vance ug naa’y gaulo ani nila. Kung ikaw teller, unya sa Lotto pa g’yud, di g’yud ka basta-basta muhatag og kwarta without confirmation g’yud,” he said.

Alicaba said the tellers will be invited tomorrow for questioning.  (FREEMAN)