Quezon City cops warn: Survey workers could be thieves

The Quezon City police warned the public yesterday against thieves posing as personnel from survey firms, in what is said to be a new modus operandi of criminal syndicates.

Superintendent Franklin Moises Mabanag, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Unit of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD), advised the public not to immediately entertain people asking them to participate in these survey interviews. 

According to a report that reached QCPD director Chief Superintendent Magtanggol Gatdula, the owner of a review center along Katipunan Avenue lost his belongings when he agreed to be interviewed for a survey.

The victim was brought to the Hi-Top supermarket, where he was told to temporarily leave his things. When he came back, his things were gone, along with the interviewer.

“These people have a way with words that could convince their prospective victims to easily trust them,” Mabanag said.

Mabanag reminded the public to ask for proper identification from survey interviewers and to remember their faces.

“When in doubt, the best way (to avoid getting victimized) is not to entertain these people,” Mabanag said. – Reinir Padua