Police initially theorized that a “Dugo-dugo Gang” now targets wives of seafarers in its swindling modus after a victim reported of having been duped into shelling out P100,000 to save her husband who had been injured abroad.
The victim reported to the Tagbilaran City police station it all started from a phone call from a stranger who introduced himself as an employee of the agency in which her husband is under in an employment as a seaman abroad.
The stranger informed the victim that her husband accidentally killed the captain of a vessel as they figured in a physical tussle following a heated argument.
The stranger added that her husband was also injured and needed to be transported to the Philippines for treatment but had to pass through Iloilo, considering as National Bureau of Investigation agents and the media were waiting for him at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The stranger then asked her to send P100,000 for her husband’s treatment and other expenses while assuring her that the agency will be taking care of her husband.
Convinced by the story of the stranger, the victim immediately sent P100,000 through a deposit.
However, after making the deposit, the suspect could no longer be contacted.
The victim said she tried to contact her husband but he could also could not be contacted.
At the time, she had no idea where her husband was.
As there had been a series of similar reports reaching the city police station on October 4, 5, and 6, police investigators theorized that a “Dugo-dugo Gang” must be behind the modus and targets the wives of seafarers.
According to Acting City Chief of Police Patricio Degay Jr., the gang aimed at the soft part of prospective victims and used their situations where their husbands are away from home, aside from the fact that they could afford to pay large amounts of money that would be demanded from them in exchange for the welfare of their husbands.
As the discussion on the report went on over DyRD Inyong Alagad on Monday, wives of seafarers were reminded of a gathering they attended on September 24 in Tagbilaran City where their contact numbers, addresses, and other personal information were taken.
They now called on investigators to trace who had managed to get an access to the personal information they provided during the event went, since they just filled up a form that was similar to an attendance sheet then.
According to Degay, the group of swindlers had failed in their earlier modus as the public had already been aware of them, the now target the wives of seafarers are they believed are more vulnerable.