A man trying to purchase a new Samsung Galaxy S8 was arrested last Wednesday noon by the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG).
The suspect, a 38-year-old man named Stephen Francis Lucena of Sta. Cruz Manila was said attempted to purchase the Php45,990 flagship smartphone using a credit card of a different person at a shopping mall in Mandaluyong. Actually, this is the price of an S8 Plus but the report mentions only a regular S8.
Lucena was with a female cohort, Nathalia Tripon of Laon Laan Street, Manila. The accomplice was able to evade the police and is currently on the loose.
The store where Lucena tried to purchase the device using a credit card has a standard procedure to do a rigorous checking on the authenticity of the card information if the transaction if worth more than Php30,000. The mall contacted the bank and noticed that the actual photo associated with the credit card is different from the one that’s on the identification presented by Lucena. The bank then immediately contacted PNP-ACG.
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Supt. Jay Guillermo, spokesperson of the PNP-ACG said that the culprit already got Php300,000 worth of goods using the card before he tried to use it again to purchase the Galaxy S8.
The authorities were able to recover Lucena’s cell phone and its SIM card, an ID with the name of the card’s original owner, and the credit card itself. The cellular phone is now subject to digital forensic examination.
Lucena and Tripon will be charged for the violation of Section 9 k and n of the Republic Act 8484 (Access Device Regulation Act of 1998).
“Nakuha ko lang naka-envelope nakakalat. Tapos ginamit ko. Cellphone lang po ang binili ko,” – Lucena told the reporters.
Despite the bad incident, it is actually nice to see the authorities’ fast response on the scenario. Which encourages everyone to immediately contact your respective banks in case you lose any of your credit cards.
Source: GMA News