For the 19 or so victims, the promise of greener pastures in Canada was too good to be true. That explained why they parted with their hard earned cash, some of them sourced from loan sharks, just to be able to raise "show money."
But what promises to be a greener pasture turned out to be a bald meadow when all of them were left holding the proverbial empty bag. They seemed to forget the time honored dictum that if it is too good to be true-investigate. In short, they were duped. It was a bitter pill to swallow for the victims who reports revealed were swindled of more than P2 million by a sweet-talking "classmate" in a care giver facility.
The figure of 19 victims was relayed to the Post by Teresita Abcede of Torralba Extension, this city. She and her two sons, Joseph, 31 and Emmanuel, 24, were swindled by a total of P205,000. There was a big possibility that more victims remain unknown as they were embarrassed to open up and admit that they fell prey to the advances of the swindler.
Now the object of extensive manhunt by her victims is a certain Marissa Thiess y Flores who claimed to be a native of Iloilo City. Said to be in her 30s,
her surname is foreign sounding apparently to convince her victims that indeed she was familiar with Canada. Her claim was that she was married to a Canadian.
Abcede visited the Post's office last night to identify some of the names victims.
Some of the victims were only known by their first names. They are Lino Garsuta, a commandant of the University of Bohol and two others identified as Florence Trigo and a certain Mona. They are said to be faculty members of the care giver school.
The other victims are Janice Abrea, Grace Payot, Abcede, a certain Honorio and Flo Doria, all students of the Can Care Training School along B. Inting and Espuelas Sts.
In a police report obtained by the Post at the city police station, only seven victims were identified. With their corresponding amount swindled, the victims who reported to the local police of their ordeal in the hands of the suspect, were identified as Abcede, P205,000; Anthony Macadang, P115,000; Baby Erlinda Mindoro, P203,000;Payot, P226,000;Ceilito Payot, P76,000; Melanie Buaquin, P205,000 and Janice Abrio, P50,000.
- As reported by the
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