Airline e-ticket scam victims seek police assistance
Daisy MandapTwo groups of Filipinos defrauded by syndicates behind an apparently massive airline e-ticket scam have filed complaints with the police, after the Consulate issued an appeal for victims to come forward.
Vice Consul Val Roque has welcomed the news relayed to him by The Sun, which first reported the victims' plight. "This will be helpful in tracking down the people behind the scam," says Roque.
He hopes Cebu Pacific, the airline often used by the syndicate to con travelers, would also respond to the Consulate's request for help in preventing the fraud.
In a letter sent to Cebu Pacific president Lance Gokongwei last month, Consul General Alejandrino A. Vicente asked the airline to issue "advisories and others measures" to help stop the fraud.
Roque also spoke with the airline's station manager, Liza Anareta earlier, to ask for the same thing.
"So far we have not received a response from them," said Roque.
But even as Cebu Pacific appears set to downplay the incidents, 35 Filipinos who fell prey to the e-ticket syndicates are determined to go after the perpetrators.
One group is represented by Malone Bicua, whose family's plight was one of those cited byCongen Vicente in his letter to Gokongwei.
In her complaint to the police, Bicua named her own sister-in-law, Elnora B. Sanorio and and the latter's husband, Noel, as the ones who tricked them into buying apparently spurious e-tickets with Cebu Pacific.
"I really want them to answer for what they did," Bicua told The Sun. "Imagine sila pa ang galit, at sinasabing biktima din sila."
The couple, when pressed to refund the money paid by Bicua's family for replacement tickets, supposedly blamed a certain agent in Macau as the one who profited from the scam.
"But I was not told any of these before," said Bicua. "We paid cash for the tickets, and I did not know that a credit card was used to buy them in turn."
Another group of 27 complainants is represented by Antonio Coronel, who works at Chek Lap Kok as an engineer, and is president of the Aviation Professionals Association of the Philippines, Inc.
Among the complainants is Coronel's son, six of his officemates, and their respective families.
"I really want to push this (complaint) because a lot of people have already been victimized, and many of them are hesitant to come forward," says Coronel.
In his complaint, Coronel identified four people who allegedly worked together to defraud his group: Remedios Cabigas, Daday Conchas, Ferdinand S. Fernandez and a certain Jake Massimo, who apparently was the one who made the e-ticket bookings.
Coronel says he did not think at first that something was amiss because his officemates who got their etickets from the same group had managed to travel to and from the Philippines without a problem.
But things turned bad when Coronel was not allowed to board his flight for Manila in April. He had to pay $1,200 to get a new ticket. Coming back, the same thing happened to him and his son, and they had to shell out more than Php19,000 to be able to leave as scheduled.
The other complainants suffered the same fate, although two families did manage to use them in traveling to Manila, but were unable to use them on their return to Hong Kong.
According to Coronel, he first got in touch with Cabigas by email when told that she was the source of cheap e-tickets bought by some of his colleagues earlier.
Cabigas in turn referred them to Conchas, who emailed instructions for them to send the payment of $800 per ticket to Fernandez in Macau. The e-tickets were forwarded directly to the victims by email.
Massimo's name came up only recently, when Coronel pressed Cabigao to refund the money paid by his group for the etickets.
Massimo, using the email address jakerize@yahoo.com, told Coronel in a message sent on June 25 that it was Cebu Pacific's fault that e-tickets were deemed invalid.
"...am very sorry, but it wasnt our fault then, there was a problem with cebu machine, that is why such problem happens, cuz i was the one who book your ticket then, but now it is better, so if you want to book as much now you can email me then i book for you, and will book you for a better price," says Massimo.
When told by Coronel that his group did not want another booking, but wanted to claim back the payments they made to Cabigas, Massimo sent another e-mail on July 2, saying he never received the payments.
"I Book for her but she didn't pay me yet up till now and I decided to leave the money for her even with her other agent. since then she has been running fro me when ever i called she never pick my call..."
Coronel said that a trace of Massimo's email address showed it was opened somewhere in Nigeria.
Filipina links in-laws scam
By Smiley D. Julve
A Filipina sought police assistance on July 4 over what she believes is a case of deception by her in-laws for selling her invalid return e-tickets for Cebu Pacific flights. Malone L. Bicua took the step after an amicable settlement arranged by the Consulate failed.
Bicua also reported to the Immigration Department a possible violation by her sister-in-law, Elnora B. Sanorjo and her husband, Noel, for acting as sub-agents, in violation of their restricted visas as domestic helpers in Hong Kong.
Early this year, Malone vouched the idea of bringing her second daughter, aged 13, to Hong Kong. But when her relatives found out about this, they decided to pitch in so that their favorite nieces and nephews could also come to Hong Kong.
Elnora and Noel even promised to pay for the airfare of Malone's husband, Wenceslao, and offered her cheap air tickets costing $950 for each child.
Wenceslao and the children had no problem coming to Hong Kong on Apr. 18, but found out that their return tickets were no longer valid when they had to rebook it on June 12 at the Cebu Pacific's office in Tsim Sha Tsui.
According to the airline's agent, Michael Choi, the credit card used to book the tickets was no longer good.
This surprised Malone as she had paid her in-laws cash for the tickets. She claims to have paid her $4,000 share in the airfare while the balance and other visa fee requirement amounting to $4,330 was contributed by her husband's relatives in the Philippines was also given in cash to her in-laws.
She says she found out later that the tickets had been paid by credit card by an agent in Macau. As a result, Malone had to use the money allocated for her children's tuition fees to pay for the $5,750 ticket of her family so they could go back home. There was no time for second thoughts as the children were already late for their classes.
After much prodding, her in-laws allegedly transferred $1,300 to Malone's account to shoulder Wenceslao's airfare. But Malone wants them to pay at least half of what she paid for.
At the Consulate, Elnora verbally agreed to give back Malone's $2,000 and promised to produce the money in a week's time. But weeks later, Malone said Noel told her on the phone: "Hindi kami magbabayad. Biktima din kami."
Noel's argument is based on the fact that two of his children were also unable to use the e-tickets he and Elnora had bought for them, and had to buy new tickets as well.
But Malone is not appeased, and is determined to make her in-laws pay for what she believes they owe her.
The failure of her family to board their return flight as scheduled was only the latest in a series of setbacks they suffered after buying the e-tickets.
The original plan was for Wenceslao and their children to come here on Mar. 31. The family had obtained passports, and even the two-month tourist visas they would need for an extended stay. But the night before they were due to leave, they were reportedly told that they could not board their scheduled flight the next day.
She only followed up the matter on Apr. 2 and was told by Noel, "Wala kaming aabonohan." Startled, Malone allegedly replied that she just wanted her family to come to Hong Kong.
She was then informed of another booking on Apr. 11 which was re-scheduled the next day, but that, too, did not materialize. In between, she was also asked whether she could pay an additional $250 for each child so that they could fly via Philippine Airlines or to pay an extra $50 because the travel agency claimed to have received so little a commission from the transaction.
Finally, Malone's husband received an e-mail detailing a Cebu Pacific itinerary for him and his five children. They were scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong on Apr. 18 and depart on June 18.
Just to be sure, Wenceslao confirmed this with the Cebu Pacific office in Manila and the staff who attended to him even printed out transaction receipts and assured him that they would not have any problems with their flight. Because of this, Malone was also advised to check whether Cebu Pacific could also be held liable for all her trouble as the airline confirmed the validity of the roundtrip air tickets and even printed out transaction receipts to that effect.
The only good that came out of the situation, said Malone, was the opportunity given to her to be with her family in Hong Kong. "At least nakarating sila," she said. What happened, she described, was "a dream of a lifetime." Unfortunately, her dream came at the expense of unplanned debts and family rift.
