Tagalog-speaking solicitors who claimed to be members of WWF or the World Wide Fund were arrested Thursday in Dumaguete for allegedly victimizing a credit card holder.
The victim, Dr. Marilou Sy, a dentist and a resident of Barangay Cantil-e in Dumaguete City only realized later that she gave the information of her credit card after filling up the donation form.
She agreed to give P500.00 as donation for the cause of the environment, but upon verification the following day, she discovered that her credit card account was already deducted some P67,000.
The suspects, who returned after somebody called them up through mobile phone that more doctors would want to donate for the environment, later fell in the hands of authorities.
Unknown to the suspects who were wearing t-shirts printed with big letters “WWF”, the police was already waiting at the victim’s clinic after which she announced a citizen’s arrest.
The suspects were identified by their identification cards as Rodney Divina Ynchausti, single, 22, a resident of B4 Li Quebec Street, BF International, Las Piñas City and a certain Jane Evarrette Blanco, 27, married, also from Las Piñas City in Metro Manila.
Further verification showed that an additional P20,000 were earmarked from the time the fraudulent transaction was made up to the time of their arrest, or a total of P87,00 before the credit card account was blocked.
Dr. Sy’s legal counsel, who refused to be identified, said something fishy was already going on when the solicitors were asking for the information of the credit card and that the victim should not have entrusted the same to the strangers.
She said, normally it is the solicitors who provide for the account numbers for donations and not the other way around.
The police are further investigating reports if WWF is an attached agency of the United Nations that is soliciting funds for the environment.
Further investigation is also conducted to determine if the victim had no other transactions even if she was sure the last person who took hold of the credit card were the abovementioned suspects. (PNA/Juancho Gallarde)