Nigerian man faces police for ‘fake’ IDs

DUMAGUETE CITY, Philippines — A Nigerian national, suspected of being a scammer, was brought to a police station in Dumaguete City for questioning following reports he used different names in at least two transactions with a courier company.

The South African national gave his real identify to the police as a certain Emmanuel Udeh but what was reflected in the Tax Identification Card he used is Simeon Ramdon Reyes Jr. and was able to claim P50,000 cash from Cebuana Lhuillier.

The Tax Indentification Number is 301-149-300-070 printed in his TIN ID, with address at F. Arcilla Street, Mabolo, Cebu City, a police report said Thursday.

According to Vincent Belonghilot of Cebuana Lhuillier, while processing for the release of the P50,000, they made sure that his name was not among those in the list of scammers, so the amount was released on October 11, 2016.

However, in his second attempt, the original branch noticed something fishy, the same person had used the same TIN ID, with the same picture on it but with a different name, prompting the branch in Dumaguete to seek the help of the tourist police, which was just within the vicinity.

The African national would have claimed P20,000 more. At the police station, police discovered the suspect had in his pocket the P50,000 being released to him earlier this week.

In an interview, however, the suspect vehemently denied he is a scammer or a member of a syndicate victimizing courier centers. He claimed to have received the control number through the mails with two TIN identification cards on it and was just following the instructions to claim the cash.

The police theorized that a group of hackers are now targeting “padala” or courier centers and once they are able to get into the system, will use different kinds of names under the same ID to get cash.

It was not immediately available how the scheme was manipulated while the police are digging deeper into the modus operandi of the group. The police are preparing to file the appropriate charges against the suspect. (FREEMAN)