CPD, BIR nab 3 for selling fake TIN

Joint operatives of the Central Police District (CPD) and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) arrested three suspects yesterday involved in the sale of fake taxpayer’s identification numbers (TIN) in an entrapment operation along East Avenue in Quezon City.

Superintendent Cesar Hawthorne Binag, commander of CPD-Station 10, identified the suspects as Carlito Llantero, 29, helper and resident of Proj. 2; Sally Cenco, 60, photocopy machine operator and resident of Marikina City; and Alex dela Cruz, 50, a resident of Barangay Pinyahan.

The arresting team recovered fake TIN cards, a typewriter and other office supplies used by the suspects in their illegal activity following an entrapment operation.

Binag said that lawyer Alfredo Santos, chief of the Special Investigation Division of the BIR, went to CPD-Station 10 in Kamias to seek coordination for the arrest of three persons allegedly engaged in the illegal sale and proliferation of the TIN cards in the area.

This came after operatives of the SID-BIR succeeded in a test-buy from the three suspects who were conducting their illegal activity along East Avenue near the Land Transportation Office (LTO).

"We then planned the entrapment for the immediate arrest of the said persons involved in the illegal activity," Binag said.

All three suspects are now detained at the CPD-Station 10 while charges of falsification and estafa are being readied against them.

The BIR appealed to the public not to patronize "fixers" in acquisition of TIN cards. TIN cards are not for sale as they are issued for free to taxpayers by the BIR.

Binag said the suspects sell the fake TIN cards for at least P100 each.