BAGUIO CITY – Law enforcement operatives have their hands full against the unabated operation of scammers following the reported over P150 million that were swindled from over 5,000 investors from the different parts of the Cordillera by a certain Maria Ellena Villa Estrada.INVESTFRAUD-new
It can be recalled that a certain Jesrael Nginyahan called on the public to continuously share his Facebook post on the reported swindling activities of Estrada who was able to divest Cordillerans the aforesaid amount and still counting. The stolen amount per Nginhayan’s post is just part of the over P3 billion that were divested by some 49 identified Ponzi firms from nearly 25,000 Cordillerans who were tempted to invest their hard earned money for higher interests but turned out losing the same to the scammers.
Nginhayan’s post on June 9, has been shared more than 76,000 times as of writing. Knowing how stories like this go viral, netizens are hoping it may lead to Estrada’s immediate incarceration for her to answer for the large-scale and syndicated estafa that she committed against innocent Cordillerans who thought her offer for a higher interest and a return of their money in a short period of time was part of their increasing their savings.
Estrada allegedly offered an investment to the Cordilleras, drawing them in with a promise that the schemes will double their investment which was the main pitch that convinced the innocent investors to withdraw their hard-earned money from the banks and cooperatives and place it to the high risk scheme.
According to Nginhayan’s revelations, Estrada encouraged the victims to invest in a popular networking scheme called Emgoldex. She also made people believe that she knows a Forex trader who could help double their money. The victims were able to collect pay outs at first, not knowing these came from the investments of their fellow investors who placed in their investments in later dates.
It was learned that Estrada never invested their money in Forex trading. The suspect, who even pretended to be a religious woman to lure her victims, sweet talked her way to extort millions of hard-earned money from the people of Buguias and La Trinidad in Benguet and even some parts of Ifugao.
The victims promised a generous reward for information leading to the capture of the alleged suspect so that she will either return the divested money from the investors or face the battery of charges to be filed against her as well as the attachment of her properties so as to partially the angry investors.
By Herald Express News Team
