Cheyenne Suarez

Singaporean actor suffers P1.5-M loss from 'love scam' allegedly ran by Pinay

Article (news)

Ched Rick Gatchalian

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1737450595721Snapinst.app_321150525_1516128452225206_8151595284584265524_n_1080.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Singaporean actor Laurence Pang. Instagram/@laur3ncepang"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Singaporean actor Laurence Pang. <em>Instagram/@laur3ncepang</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA – Forced to fulfill a real-life victim role, veteran Singaporean actor Laurence Pang said he lost over P1.5 million after he was scammed by a Filipina that he met on a dating website and enticed him to invest in a fake online shopping mall.</p><p>The Pinay, named alias &quot;Mika,&quot; promised him a 10% commission as a reseller in every product that the website can sell. However, when Pang was about to withdraw his commission, another sale came in, restricting him to get his share.</p><p>He said a reseller won&#x27;t be permitted to withdraw his commission as long as there is an outstanding order. Eventually, he mentioned that the scammers were able to get hold of the account and the products automatically became available, keeping the cycle running until his whole investment was drained up.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/07/04/23/man-on-dating-app-loses-p100k-to-love-scam">Man on dating app loses P100k to ‘love scam’</a></div><p>&quot;Whenever there&#x27;s a customer who buys any products there, I have to fund it first... Then the customer will take the shipment, I will get 10% of the sale and take back my capital. Before I can take back my commission.. another sale came in, I have to fulfill it again,&quot; Pang narrated during an interview on public service show Raffy Tulfo in Action on January 17, hosted by Senator Raffy Tulfo.</p><p>The veteran actor realized the orders were also from fake customers.</p><p>The deceit started when Pang met &quot;Mika&quot; on a dating website called &quot;PinaLove&quot; during the latter months of 2024. He said the girl used her charm to convince him to invest.</p><p>&quot;Being an old man you know, when a young woman say &#x27;I love you, I blah blah blah&#x27;, stupid you know,&quot; he explained.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/1/31/filipinos-warned-against-love-scams-as-valentine-s-day-nears-2202">Filipinos warned against ‘love scams’ as Valentine’s Day nears</a></div><p>&quot;She kept telling me that she&#x27;s processing her orders already, and she&#x27;s making good money. And then she showed me a report about her profit. So I think &#x27;Okay, this looks quite alright.,&quot; he recalled.</p><p>The total money he invested and lost to the scam were over P1.5 million pesos, according to Pang.</p><p>It turned out though that the woman is using photos enhanced by artificial intelligence. Upon seeing her on video chat, he said he knew he was scammed after recognizing the physical differences.</p><p>The show contacted Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group spokeswoman PLT Wallen Mae Arancillo who confirmed to Pang that he is a victim of &quot;love scam&quot;, where cyber criminals supposedly get the &quot;sympathy&quot; of their victims to encourage them to invest in cryptocurrency.</p><p>Arancillo could not say yet if the case is connected to a POGO scam.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/9/15/chinese-fugitives-arrested-in-raid-on-crypto-love-scam-hub-posing-as-pogo-1527">Chinese fugitives arrested in raid on crypto, love scam hub posing as POGO</a></div><p>&quot;We cannot really say that it is part of the POGO, because it was already directed by our President to stop these kinds of operation,&quot; she said.</p><p>However, Arancillo also conceded that there are still some POGO hubs that were recently raided even after the ban.</p><p>&quot;We are really doing our best with regard to cyber patrolling and online investigation so that we would be able to trace these people behind those POGO or scam hubs,&quot; Arancillo said.</p><p>Pang will coordinate with the PNP in Camp Crame regarding the case.</p><p>Arancillo also warned the public to not be swayed by similar scam modus, inviting them to invest in cryptocurrency online after hooking their interest through charm online.</p><p>&quot;We want to remind the public not to easily trust people they just met online. You don’t know these people, and they can use dummy accounts to make you fall under an investment scam,&quot; she stressed.</p><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><strong></strong><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gQbVEE7YNlU?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>Forced to fulfill a real-life victim role, veteran Singaporean actor Laurence Pang lost over P1.5 million after he was scammed by a Filipina that he met on a dating website and enticed him to invest on a fake online shopping mall.</p>

Forced to fulfill a real-life victim role, veteran Singaporean actor Laurence Pang lost over P1.5 million after he was scammed by a Filipina that he met on a dating website and enticed him to invest on a fake online shopping mall.