EDITORIAL - Beware of scammers

As long as there are transaction between the government and the people, there will always be scammers hoping to fool people into thinking they are doing business with the government.

Just recently, two men were arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation after convincing a Carbon Market vendor that they were legitimate representatives of the Cebu City Government and could guarantee her two market slots so she could have more space for her banana business.

The vendor got suspicious following repeated installment payments for the market slots where the two never issued official receipts.

 She got in touch with the City Market Office, then found out the two didn’t represent the city government.

Then the NBI got involved, verified the information, and set up a sting operation where they arrested the two men as they took more money from the vendor.

One of the men was later found to be a serial scammer with at least two cases for estafa still pending, one in Camarines Sur and the other in Lapu-Lapu City.

Let this be a warning to the transacting public that they must always be sure who they are dealing with, especially if that person claims to represent the local government unit.

It never hurts to check with the government office they claim to represent. This shouldn’t take much effort and the reward is not just peace of mind but also being spared a possible spurious transaction and losing money.

They must always ask for a receipt if any form of payment is made. Government transactions should always come with one.

Last, but not the least, they should also be willing to cooperate with authorities to put behind bars the scammers who try to part people from their hard-earned money.

Something we have to ask is how was this the third time one of the suspects committed alleged estafa? The fact that he was able to walk away --or allowed to escape-- is telling.