7 victims lose P1.9 million to 'repa paluwagan' scam

CEBU, Philippines —  At least seven individuals have gone to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG)-7 to file a complaint after they were scammed in a repa paluwagan (repa) amounting to at least P1.9 million.

In an interview with media on Friday, the complaints who asked for anonymity said that a certain Maria Cristina failed to return her more than P100,000 supposed sum of the repa.

According to her, she met Maria Cristina on social media through her public post of lechon-package deal.

“Ang permiro nakong gi-avail is 17k turns to 32k atong last September, and then kay kani laging curious lagi ko nangutana ko niya unsay paagi nganong kadako man og tubo sa kwarta, iyang explanation is paluwagan,” she told the media.

She added that Maria further said that there were members who cannot wait for their turn to receive the money of the “paluwagan” so some will sell their slot for a lower price, which they called “repa.”

“So mao to naengganyo ko mao tong niingon ko nga kung pwede ko magpa-legit-check sa imong timeline sa Facebook, tuod man daghan ni confirm nga legit,” she said.

After the legitimacy check on Facebook, the complainant then availed the investment scheme.

On September 1 this year, she availed the paluwagan in the amount of P17,000 which supposed to turn P32,000.

However, Maria allegedly reasoned out that the said slot’s account has been frozen in which the supposed P32,000 interest will no longer be met and the amount will stay at P17,000.

The complainant agreed to let it go and instead availed another slot of the paluwagan using the same amount of money which was supposed to be her first “release” of the investment.

“So mao to akong gikwenta-kwenta ang ubang post niya sa repa mao tung nasalinan nalang kog P1,400 which is iyang gipadala through a remittance center hangtud nga naabot sa panahon ang last nakong gi-avail is ang 36k which turned to 40 plus something in the month of October,” she added.

However, in the same month, Maria reportedly told them that the investment scheme has started to fail. Up to P121,000 investment was not returned to the owner.

“Sa ako tung savings, sobra gyud sa pagmahay, kalagot pud kay wala jud koy nadawat na refund, iya daw ko tagaan og refund 2,250 wala nako dawat kay wala gani na naka 1/8 sa akong gi invest,” she said.

Police Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog, CIDG-7 chief, said they will assist the complainants and will ask for pieces of evidence that they could beat to prove their complaints.

As of yesterday, Dalogdog said the CIDG-7 was able to file a total of 25 formal complaints against the admins of repa investment scam in the Province of Bohol with an estimated P233 million unreturned amount. — GMR (FREEMAN)