Con artist on the loose

Police have warned the public against falling prey to a con artist who victimizes prospective job applicants for abroad.

Sources said the suspect, described as in his 50s, at least 5’4 in height and heavily built, frequents places where job applicants congregate. He introduces himself to prospective victims as a job recruiter for abroad.

"But the suspect is so elusive that we have difficulty monitoring his movements. He also changes venues from time to time," said one intelligence officer of the Western Police District.

In early February, the suspect victimized a young woman by posing as a recruiter, taking an undetermined amount of cash, her ATM card and her cellular phone.

The woman, who refused to give her identity, said the man claimed that a company in the US needed a dentist.

After contacting the suspect through telephone, she met him the following day at a restaurant just across the US Embassy in Manila to discuss the supposed job offer.

There, the man said the visa and other necessary papers needed to be processed as soon as possible and that he could expedite them, and then asked the victim for her money, ATM card and mobile phone.

He then left, claiming that he needed to make the necessary phone calls and would return. The woman, who was waiting at the restaurant, then went to the police when the man didn’t come back.

She also notified her bank about her lost ATM card before the suspect was able to withdraw from her account and empty it. She refused to tell The STAR how much she lost.– Nestor Etolle, Norman Sison