• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
A Chinese-looking woman engaged in buying government issued identification (ID) cards has already been identified, but is nowhere to be found, according to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
NBI Bacolod executive officer Jose Gabriel Jr. said on Monday (July 29) that they will issue a subpoena to the said woman as soon as they can establish her location.
Gabriel said that she left her rented apartment and did not anymore show up at her rented commercial stall after her modus operandi was uncovered by the authorities.
The woman and her companion, only identified as Mark, were able to take photographs of either national ID cards or driver’s licenses of 13 persons, including four tricycle drivers in Bacolod City in exchange for P400 cash each.
Authorities warned the public that the personal data taken from them could be used by others for scams or to assume their identities.
Gabriel said that they are also exerting their best effort to establish the full identity of a certain Mark, a former tricycle driver, who is also recruiting other drivers to allow them to take photographs of their driver’s licenses.
The NBI has taken the statements of 11 of the 13 persons in preparation for the drafting of the complaint affidavits.
Gabriel said that they may file charges for identity theft or violation of Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act against the woman and her cohort.
In previous months, the Bureau of Immigration arrested four Chinese nationals suspected of obtaining government IDs through fraudulent means, following the confiscation of various Philippine-issued IDs such as driver’s licenses, postal IDs and birth certificates from their possessions. | GB
