• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
The woman with Chinese features who has been engaged in buying government issued identification cards, has already been identified but is nowhere to be found, according to the National Bureau of Investigation.
Atty. Jose Gabriel Jr., NBI Bacolod executive officer, disclosed on Monday that they will be issuing a subpoena to the woman, as soon as they establish her location.
Gabriel said that the woman is no longer occupying her rented apartment, or visiting her rented commercial stall, after her modus operandi was uncovered by the authorities.
According to the investigation of the NBI, the woman and her companion, a certain Mark, were able to take photographs of nationally issued identification cards, mostly driver’s licenses of 13 persons, including four tricycle drivers in Bacolod City, in exchange for P400 in cash.
Authorities warned the public that the data taken could be used by others for scams, or to assume their identities.
Gabriel said they are also exerting their best efforts to establish the full identity of a certain Mark, a former tricycle driver, who is recruiting other drivers to allow photographs to be taken of their driver’s licenses.
The NBI already took statements from 11 of the 13 persons who were potentially victimized, in preparation for the drafting of complaint affidavits.
Gabriel said they may file charges for identity theft, or violation of RA 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act, against the woman and her cohort.
In previous months, the Bureau of Immigration had 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 possession.*
