The Philippine Airport Police have busted an alleged honey trap with the arrest of a Nigerian and his alleged Filipina cohort, both of whom had duped a woman of more than Php200,000 by first trapping her into a ‘virtual love affair’ and then coaxing her to make the transactions.
Manila International Airport Authority [MIAA] general manager Ed Monreal said that the Nigerian suspect William John Ani became friends with the victim on a social media platform and later started a ‘virtual affair’. Ani then asked the victim to send him P85,000 for the processing fee of some package that he sent to her. The suspect then asked for an additional P145,000, media reports said.
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The 38-year-old victim reportedly shelled out a total of P230,000 in two separate transactions before she realized that it was a scam. The victim then went to the airport to claim the package, but to her surprise, there was no package under her name.
This prompted her to report the incident to the Police Intelligence and Investigation Division of the Airport Police Department [PIID-APD]. Monreal said his men then tracked the location of the claimant and immediately coordinated with the Baguio City Police to lay a trap.
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It was then that they were able to arrest Ani and 25-year old Endera Duca. During the probe, it came to light that the duo had previously duped two Overseas Filipino Workers with almost P500,000 using the same modus operandi, media reports pointed out. (AW)
