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MANILA, Philippines — Two sisters who posed as members of the Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) of the Philippine National Police were arrested in a trap set by real “cybercops” in Marikina City on Thursday.
According to an ACG report on the case, siblings Gina Gutierrez, 49, and Mary Ann Bersabe, 31, offered to help a male victim of an online scam who had been duped into paying P18,500 for a smartphone.
Investigators gathered that on Aug. 5 the victim closed a deal online with a person who had the Facebook account of “Emerson Gerona Cabrera Jr.,” agreeing to pay for an iPhone 13 Pro Max on installment.
But after making a downpayment of P18,500, the account blocked him on Facebook. He later shared what happened to him also on the social media network to warn others about the scam.
One of the Facebook comments on his post gave him an email address of another person who could purportedly help him get his money back. Taking this tip, he got a reply from that address saying that some ACG personnel could indeed help him—but for a “processing fee’’ of P7,500.
On Aug. 9, the victim received a call from a person who introduced herself as an ACG operative, but who demanded another P4,500 as processing fee.
Crame alerted
Sensing another swindle, the victim reported the matter directly to the PNP-ACG office in Camp Crame.
In an entrapment operation on Thursday afternoon, Gutierrez and Bersabe were arrested after they showed up at a remittance…
