These scammers are cunning as ever! From being “Vice Mayor” last year to being a “Commander” last week, and recently, he confidently claimed to be “Dr. Alfred Merales of Ace Dumaguete Doctors”.
Good thing my husband Jadon was keen enough for stuff like this, and took note of the slightest detail. After having been scammed big time before, our mantra has then been, NEVER AGAIN.
Let us be extra vigilant! Share to spread awareness, before someone falls for it again.
This has been this scammer’s pattern contacting restaurants as many as he can. He might be doing this alone or with a team, who knows?, but one thing is for sure: the voice, and the modus are unmistakably the same.
First, the scammer attempts to sound dominant and demanding, professing the position he claims to have.
Then, the scammer puts in an order for a volume of items where he seems to ensure will cost you extensive damage. That would be like putting a food order that would normally bill about P10,000 to P15,000, “good for 17 persons”.
Once the scammer senses you have taken the bait, he will try to intimidate your employee to give in to his side-request, a “favor” to buy him cellphone load credits worth about P2,000.
This part of “customers” asking for favors from persons not their employees I think is most inappropriate.
It’s also way out of line of every employee’s job description to comply with/give in to customers’ requests — no matter who that “customer” claims himself to be.
A regular employee might eventually give in to the “customer’s request” out of respect, considering the “generous” order made by the fraudulent professional pretending to be a medical doctor.
Finally, the scammer convinces your unsuspecting employee to “just add” the cost of P2,000 worth of phone load credits “on top of his food bill” and confidently declares he will “pay everything upon delivery”.
That should be a red flag for all of us! No “high-ranking position professional” worth his salt will ever ask a random employee of a food joint to buy him phone load! I think it’s the last thing a genuine professional would do; they usually have executive assistants/secretaries to take care of those tasks. Besides, a white-collar professional would know that his personal needs are to be separated from his professional life, let alone buying load, to maintain decency.
So NO, don’t fall for it. And take note of the phone numbers. Always listen to your gut feel, and if you have hunches, it is always better to verify.
We are just glad we did.
We called Ace Dumaguete Doctors to verify the huge food order, and yes, while there is indeed a real Dr. Alfred Merales, he was just as alarmed as we were because Dr. Merales did not call Ryu Sushi Dumaguete, let alone order P10,000 worth of sushi, with a P2,000 phone load on the side.
Follow @HearHerNow to listen to the video context.
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Author’s email: [email protected]
