The Taguig City Police on Thursday warned the public of a scammer using a substation commander’s name in phone calls to demand money.
In a statement late Thursday afternoon, the Taguig City Police Station said the scammer had been using the name of Police Cpt. Jerson Cariño Castillo.
‘There is indeed a legitimate police officer named P/Cpt. Jerson Cariño Castillo, currently the Station Commander of Police Substation 8,’ the Taguig police explained.
‘However, he has no connection whatsoever to any extortion or harassment activity. His name is being illegally used by scammers to demand money from victims with alleged debts to lending institutions,’ it added.
In a phone interview with reporters later on Thursday, Southern Police District (SPD) public information chief Lt. Margaret Panaga said the alleged scam call took place last Monday. ‘Ang ginawa is tumawag siya (scammer) doon sa number ng asawa niya nung October 6 and ang sabi is sasampahan daw sila ng estafa,’ Panaga explained.
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(The scammer called the recipient’s spouse last October 6 and the scammer said they’ll sue them for estafa.)
‘But, the call recipient does not have debt,’ she added.
According to the SPD public information chief, the call recipient reported the incident to the 8888 citizens’ complaint hotline, which notified the Taguig police last Tuesday.
Panaga noted that police have yet to track down the call recipient through the complaint.