The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested seven individuals who allegedly posed as property owners and lawyers to swindle victims out of millions of pesos, leading to the dismantling of a ‘sangla-kolekta’ (pawn-and-collect) syndicate in Taguig City.
In an interview with reporters on Wednesday, NBI spokesperson lawyer Palmer Mallari said NBI agents nabbed the suspects in an entrapment operation inside a bogus law office in Barangay West Rembo.
Mallari said four of the suspects pretended to be property owners and agents, while three acted as lawyers who signed mortgage documents to scam victims.
‘When you believe the [scammers], they will mortgage the property to you, and you will start to expect profit. But only for you to discover that the ones who actually transacted with you are not really the owners or not really agents, but only assumed the names,’ he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
The suspects are facing criminal charges of estafa, concealing true identities, falsification of public documents, and possession of instruments used in committing falsification, he said.
According to Mallari, the suspects allegedly preyed on individuals looking for passive income through a pawn-and-collect scheme promoted on social media.
Under this setup, victims are offered the mortgage of a residential property. In exchange for their cash investment, they are promised monthly rental income collected from the property’s supposed tenants.
The suspects would show victims the first two pages of a Transfer Certificate of Title to claim ownership, omitting the page showing that the property is already encumbered or mortgaged to someone else. They would also forge the same documents, Mallari said.
The spokesperson added that the alleged scammers went to extreme lengths to legitimize the scheme, even hiring actors to pose as tenants inside the properties being canvassed by victims.
‘The fake tenants will tell the victim, ‘Since the property is mortgaged to you, we will direct our next rental payments to you,” Mallari said.
He warned that individuals most prone to the scam are those who cannot afford to buy an entire property but are willing to accept a mortgage at a lower price.
He also noted that this modus is an ‘evolution’ of an older scam in which syndicates would use forged duplicate titles to outright sell properties they do not own.
‘This type of modus operandi evolved because scammers saw that not every potential victim is willing to buy. Some are just willing to accept mortgages,’ Mallari said.
Inheritance lost
For a 48-year-old victim, the suspects’ ruse cost him money intended for his four children’s education.
The complainant, who requested anonymity for his protection, told reporters he sold a parcel of inherited land in Bulacan to invest in the scheme in 2024.
He claimed he was promised a P45,000 monthly return on his P500,000 investment in a supposed residential property in Barangay West Rembo, but the alleged scammers only paid him rental income for the first two months before cutting off contact.
He said the suspects, whom he met on Facebook, toured him around the property to convince him.
‘During my first visit, there were tenants. They were oriented. They were actors. They were all accomplices, even the ones notarizing,’ he said in Filipino.
He later discovered that the documents shown to him were falsified.
‘I treated that money as an investment for my kids’ education because I thought there would be profit in the long run,’ he said. ‘It’s hard because we were all looking forward to that.’
He soon joined a group of 34 other victims-some of whom he said lost up to P4 million in the same scheme-to seek justice against the suspects.
A ‘big scam’
Mallari said the NBI is scouring its database for similar complaints over the past three years to establish possible links to the arrested suspects.
‘We are actually conducting a continuing investigation because we suspect that, potentially, other suspects are actually involved in this big scam,’ he said.
The suspects may face additional charges if evidence shows they are linked to similar cases, the spokesperson added.
The complainant urged his fellow victims to come forward at the NBI headquarters in Pasay City to help pin down the suspects.
‘I went here to let [the NBI] know more of us were scammed. More will come here to implicate [the suspects] so they cannot post bail,’ he said.
Because what usually happens is they get jailed, post bail, and repeat their crimes. I feel sorry for the people they scam,’ he added