A Filipina teenager has been arrested for swindling victims a total of Php8 million in an online shopping scam.
As first reported in a segment in newscast 24 Oras, suspect Chase Jasmine Santos set up an online store in social media and called it BT’s Wardrobe Pampanga – Distributor, a name clearly suggestive of the biggest K-pop boy band in the world right now. The products the store claimed to offer include apparel from popular brands that could be ordered in bulk at heavily discounted prices.
Several victims are teens themselves who are trying to make it big in the financial world via retail and merchandising. In the segment, a victim claimed to have lost as much as Php700,000, while another said she lost Php100,000.
In her defense, Santos claims her suppliers have failed to deliver the products, hence her being unable to fulfill the orders of the victims. She also claims to have partially refunded them and promises to return the money entirely.
Lt. Col. Benedict Poblete of the PNP-CIDG, the investigation police body that arrested Santos in an entrapment operation, advises the public to always pay on a cash-on-delivery basis when transacting online.
Source: GMA News