Woman loses ma's P1-M jewelry to con artists

MANILA, Philippines - A woman claimed she was fooled by a caller who impersonated her mother into giving away P1 million worth of her mother’s jewelry to a woman who met her at a mall in Manila Friday afternoon.

Margaret Gan, 23, of Bel-Air Village in Makati City, told the Manila Police District that at around 3 p.m. Friday, she received a phone call at home on their landline phone.

Gan said the caller identified herself as her mother, and that she had been in an accident. Gan said she was told not to call the police because she had hit somebody with her car. The caller said she needed the jewelry to settle the case with the victim of the accident and they had to go to a hospital for treatment.

Gan said the caller even told her where to get the jewelry. She said she followed the caller’s instructions to meet a woman at the mall and to give her the jewelry. The woman then told Gan to just wait for her mother.

Hours later, Gan said she realized she had been fooled and reported the incident to the police.