BAGUIO CITY – A 24-year old businesswoman was arrested by detectives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group- North Central Luzon (CIDG-NCL) during an entrapment operation because of her involvement in alleged Ponzi scheme operations that duped dozens of willing investors in a fastfood chan along Harrison road here around 3:40 pm Tuesday.
Senior Superintendent Jimmy Catanes, CIDG-NCL commanding officer, identified the arrested Ponzi firm operator as Myrlissa Picardo Minog, 24, single, businesswoman, presently residing at 29 Kalapati Street, Dizon Subdivision, Baguio City.
The arrested person is involved in illegal SCAMS operating in the City of Baguio and Benguet Province who recruit clients to invest to her cash and promise to them higher interest for their investments.
A case for Large Scale Estafa was filed before the Baguio City Prosecutors Office under NPS Case No. I-17-INQ-15-2885 and she is presently detained at the Baguio City Jail awaiting the disposition of her case.
The case against Minog stemmed from the complaint of Rachel D. Lubu-od, Jovelyn M. Valdez and Borhly D. Napeek who enticed them to invest in a clothing factory which they found later to be non-existing.
The complainants were defrauded cash amounting to Three Hundred Sixty Five Thousand P365,000 in hard earned money which prompted them to file the appropriate case against Minog for such Ponzi scheme.
Under here Ponzi scheme, for every Five Thousand Pesos the complainants will give to her they will receive Three Thousand Pesos as interest after a month. She also offered a new investment and demanding again cash as pay-in amounting to Two Thousand Five Hundred pesos that prompted them to complain at CIDG Baguio and an entrapment operation ensued.
Catanes called on victims of Ponzi investments schemes not to hesitate in reporting their cases to the concerned police authorities so that they will be appropriately charged for them to suffer the consequences of their illegal actions, saying that once individuals are offered high interests for their money, they should doubt the credibility of the scheme offered to them for their hard earned money.
By Dexter A. See
