Paeng ‘wins’ P1.2 M in BSP raffle scam

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Rafael Buenaventura almost became a victim of a text scam regarding a purported monthly promo emanating from his department.

Buenaventura received a text message on his cell phone the other night informing him that he had just won P1.2 million in the monthly raffle promo of the BSP.

He was instructed to call a certain Samuel Sanchez at 0919-4125069 "for more details."

"I can’t believe this," Buenaventura said during the anniversary party of the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. Tuesday night, shortly after receiving the message on his cellphone.

"Congratulations!" the message said. "The seven digits of your mobile phone number won P1.2 million second prize monthly promo of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas."

The BSP chief burst out laughing, not for having won any money, but because he too was not exempt from possibly falling victim to the scam.

The so-called BSP monthly raffle has been a thorn in the side of Buenaventura who has received innumerable complaints from people who have received similar text messages from unscrupulous scammers.

The modus operandi usually involved convincing the victims to deposit a certain amount to a numbered account before the prize money could be deposited in the account of the "winner."

Amused and annoyed at the same time, Buenaventura forwarded the text message to the investigators of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), which he said could ask the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to log the number.

"The problem with this is that pre-paid accounts are untraceable unless we conduct a sting operation," Buenaventura said.

Reporters suggested that Buenaventura call "Samuel Sanchez" and invite him to the BSP to brief the Monetary Board about the mechanics of the so-called monthly raffle. The BSP chief, however, said he would leave it to the NBI to deal with the operators of the text scam.