By Jeannette Andrade
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Police arrested a call center agent who, posing as a talent handler of the television network GMA 7 and several fashion magazines, allegedly duped a student of the University of Santo Tomas into giving up her money and her modesty in exchange for a modeling career.
The victim was reportedly the second student of the university and resident of Marikina City to be preyed on by the alleged swindler.
Operatives of the Manila Police District General Assignment Section (MPD-GAS) arrested
Paul Anthony Maskarino, 22, a call center agent of Telus Philippines, of Barangay Laging Handa, Quezon City, on the complaint of the 18-year-old student, who got wind of the scam after the suspect allegedly threatened to upload a webcam video of her naked if she refused to give him P5,000 in cash for a modeling contract.
Police Officer 3 Donald Panaligan, case investigator, said that Maskarino was arrested on Friday evening in an entrapment operation at an eatery in front of UST in Sampaloc, where the suspect had asked to meet the student for the transaction.
Panaligan pointed out that based on the victim’s complaint, when Maskarino called her to schedule the meeting, the suspect told her in Filipino, “The contract is with me so you should go with what we agreed upon. If you do not honor the agreement, I will upload your pictures and webcam video on the Internet.â€
The case investigator told the Inquirer, “When she signed the contract and gave him the cash, the suspect even told her that they should go to a motel so she could truly become a model. It was then that she gave the signal for our policemen to arrest him.â€
Based on the complaint, the teenager first met Maskarino at UST on April 18. He introduced himself as a talent handler of GMA 7 and an agent for several fashion magazines looking for models.
After obtaining her trust by introducing himself as a UST alumnus, he likewise promised her a modeling contract for which she had to pay P5,000 and that he needed pictures of her clad only in underwear as required by a certain Malou Canazares, supposedly a talent acquisition representative of MEG Philippines.
Maskarino and the student became friends and Internet chat mates after the student gave him the pictures. It was during one of their chat sessions that Maskarino convinced the student to undress in front of the webcam, purportedly for him to see that she could really be a model.
On August 5, Maskarino allegedly threatened the student into preparing the P5,000 cash for the contract, which had been four months overdue. His manner made the victim suspicious and prompted her to seek police assistance.
Panaligan said that Maskarino was the object of a complaint for estafa and acts of lasciviousness by another UST student.
On Novemver 4, 2009, Maskarino allegedly got P12,500 from the female teenager and a movie date purportedly as payment for his intervention to avert a failing grade in a college subject.
Inside the movie theater, the suspect allegedly molested the student, kissing her and touching her private parts against her will. Maskarino allegedly threatened to withdraw his help in getting her a passing grade should she refuse.
Maskarino, who is detained at the MPD-GAS holding cell, denied the allegations. He said he met the students on the social networking site Facebook but had not demanded nor received any sum from them. .
He claimed that the student he offered a modeling career to was a favor to a friend who is a freelance photographer. However he could not give out a name.
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