NBI-7 files raps  vs Gwen’s poser

CEBU, Philippines — A criminal complaint has been filed by the National Bureau of Investigation-7 against a woman who posed as Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia to solicit money from a teacher in Daanbantayan, Cebu.

Conchita Ceniza Traya, of Barangay Lucena, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur, is now facing a complaint for computer-related identity theft in violation of Republic Act 10175 or Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 before the Cebu Provincial Prosecutor’s Office.

Traya, who is also using the aliases Tra Schita and Schita Eniza Tra, allegedly created Facebook and Instagram accounts using the governor’s name and photo.

According to the NBI-7, Herbert Cañete, a public school teacher, received a message in his Instagram account from the account @gwendolyn_garcia.

“I’m contacting as pertaining the non-government organization fund raising going on, I’m imploring every citizens to help this fund raiser with at least 100,000 minimum, Kindly let me know how you would be able to be of help as this is an urgent case to attend to,” read the message that the teacher received.

The teacher said he told the sender that he could only afford P5,000 but the poser allegedly demanded for an additional P5,000. Convinced that he was dealing with a scammer, the teacher sent P5 to the poser through a number under the name of Schita Tra. The poser then asked the teacher to send a receipt of the transaction as proof.

 According to the teacher, he edited the transaction receipt to make it appear that he sent P5,000 and not P5 and took a screenshot of their conversation and sent it to Daanbantayan Mayor Sun Shimura who also forwarded it to the governor.

 Garcia immediately requested the NBI-7 to look into the matter. The NBI-7 obtained a warrant from Regional Trial Court  (RTC) Branch 11 Judge Ramon Daomilas compelling the telecom company operating an electronic remittance system to disclose the computer data to trace the sender who tried to scam the teacher using the governor’s name.

The NBI-7 found out that the number was registered under the name of Chita Eniza Tra.

"Conchita C. Traya aka Chita Eniza Tra submitted to GXI (Gcash) her Voter's ID issued by the Commission on Election (Comelec). It was maliciously defaced so that the real name will be hidden, however, Conchita was betrayed by her own signature in the same document. She signed her voter's ID with her complete name Conchita C. Traya" the NBI-7 said.

 "In addition, Conchita has at least five (5) Facebook accounts and four (4) of the accounts bore her real name and had profile photos which matched with Conchita's selfie photo during the registration process with Gcash including her address," the NBI-7 added.- FPL (FREEMAN)