OFW falls in-love with a fake Facebook gf

MANILA, Philippines – Seaman Frederick Egea met  a certain Joana Mae Cruz on Facebook and he then fell in love with her. He was head over heels with Cruz that he started to gave in to her requests then eventually it became demands. The OFW started sending her money for gifts; clothes, shoes, and flowers.

Since June 2017 until September 2018, Egea was sending money to his fake girlfriend amounting to over P600,000, hoping to meet her when he returns home. but when he finally arrived his nightmare started, he then realize it was a scam and was faced with extortion.

On September 8, he found out that Joana Mae Cruz was a fake Facebook profile. The scammer behind it, is a 21-year-old Angelica Miguel who confessed to the victim.

The photos used to create the fake account were photos of a certain Angelica Calanog, 20years old. Calanog didn’t know her photos were used for the scam. 

She said that scammer Angelica Miguel posed as the leader of her supposed fans on Facebook. All this happened while Calanog was clueless that her photos were being used to extort money from an OFW.

On September 11, Egea agreed to meet up with Miguel at the McDonald’s of Ever Gotesco Mall along Commonwealth, undercover cops accompanied Egea, and as soon as the exchange happened cops broke cover and arrested her. 

6 alleged cohorts of Miguel, were also expecting to receive extortion money from Miguel inside the Jollibee branch along Commonwealth Avenue were arrested too after Egea handed marked money. 

They now face complaints for violation of Article 293 (Robbery), 315 (Swindling/Estafa), 318 (Other deceits) of the Revised Penal Code, and for identity theft or Republic Act 10175.