Falling for Internet date cost American P100,000

[Mike's Lucy 14]

CEBU CITY, Philippines—American Allan Toor thought he was lucky to have met and become engaged to a Filipina through an Internet dating website.

He waited for her to arrive at the Hollywood International Airport in Florida in mid-October, with flowers and chocolates in hand. No one came.

She not only ran off with about P100,000 of his money but gave Toor a false name and a nonexistent address in Cebu.

She also used the photo of Filipina singer-actress Karylle, the daughter of singer Zsa Zsa Padilla, to identify herself to Toor.

In a letter sent to Senior Supt. Patrocinio Comendador Jr., chief of Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), Toor asked police to help him locate the girl who introduced herself as Arkishra Toribio Manuel, who claimed to be 29-years-old and a native of Zamboanga City who had established residence in Consolacion, Cebu.

“I am now asking you to look into this matter as she may be making thousands of dollars and scamming others. However, if she took the money from me, where is she now? Still in Manila or home?” Toor’s letter read.

In his 10-page letter dated Oct. 19, 2009 received early this week by Comendador, Toor said he began chatting with Arkishra in early September through the dating website called “Cherry Blossom.”

“We built friendship that led to a serious relationship,” Toor said.

He said after Manuel agreed to become his fiancée, they began planning her trip to the United States.

Toor claimed he sent money to Manuel for her placement fee, visa processing, airfare and dormitory expenses in Manila totaling about P100,000. She was supposed to arrive on Oct. 16 in Florida.

To identify herself to Toor, Manuel sent to the American a scanned copy of supposedly her visa that had Karylle’s photo on it.

In his letter to the police, Toor attached a photocopy of Arkishra’s visa with Karylle’s picture on it and some photos of Karylle taken from her blog.

Police, however, were not equipped to handle Toor’s case and decided to turn it over to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group since the unit has a cyber crimes section based in Camp Crame, according to Senior Insp. George Ylanan, chief of the Criminal Investigation and Detective Management Branch of the Cebu police.

Police said the woman whom Toor met through the Internet obviously fooled the American.

She claimed to be staying at “Liomo Highway, Sitio Street, Consolacion town.” Police said there was no such place in Consolacion.

An Internet search made on the name “Arkishra Toribio Manuel” showed that she was in the Twitter account of another foreigner, identified as a Gary Wigle, who appeared to be her boyfriend, police said.

Source:

Daily Inquirer

By Chito O. Aragon

Philippine Daily Inquirer First Posted 21:42:00 11/26/2009

Edited November 29, 2009 by Mike's Lucy

[RonMay 1]

i actually saw this news yesterday lol (im currently in phil right now) and i was saddened by it. but not surprised at all on how some women do this as their modus operandi or scamming act...

7-8 yrs ago (my college days) i had this friend online, i think i met him on yahoo chat and "we're not dating or something" but he mentioned he met a girl from phil and they're seemed getting serious about each other. of course i said, great blah blah blah, giving them support. he's so proud of his gf that he showed me the pic of the girl... and I WAS IN SHOCK! lol... the girl in the picture was Patricia Javier (a sexy filipino actress, known for her FHM post and sexy movies) so i asked him if his serious or not or just kidding coz somehow i sensed that he was being scammed and or even if its really the actress, then the girl is a two timing ###### knowing she's dating an actor/model/host marc nelson at that time... (i know im very updated w/ this showbiz thing lol)... of course this friend of mine on the net was very serious about this girl and just to find out that she was fake and perhaps just scamming him for some money... oh well... just glad i let him aware to be careful and all next time...

edit to add: i am not sure if this is a woman or not... just basing it on the name on the news... since we havent seen her "real" face yet, perhaps its not fair for us women to assume she's a girl lol... salamat

Edited November 30, 2009 by RonMay

[Ban Hammer 13,445]

how much is P100,000?

[SuperDuper! 230]

how much is P100,000?

today about $2120 USD

[Ban Hammer 13,445]

how much is P100,000?

today about $2120 USD

yeah she never made it to the states - he probably sent it western union too

[RVIANE♛ 5]

how much is P100,000?

its $2,200 something

[robbie jeannet 5]

This is what happens when men think with the small head instead of the big one. he will probably feel worse if he finds out that it was a guy that did this to him. all this time they dated he never asked about web cam??? stupid dude!

[The_Sage1 2]

What's even more foolish is that he sent "her" money for the visa processing. I'm not sure how someone could be that stupid. Anyone here knows that the American has to be the petitioner and pay the fees for the foreign fiance! That guy obviously had no clue about how it works.

[jom 4]

Obviously there was no chatting in the webcam and he just relied on a picture....so stupiddddd.

[tallcoolone 102]

http://www.pointmancebu.com/

[tallcoolone 102]

That's pocket change compared to meeting a woman in the USA, and getting a divorce.

It will run 10 to 20 times that much in USA

[tallcoolone 102]

http://www.pointmancebu.com/filipina_scammers_in_cebu.htm

[robbie jeannet 5]

As they say( a fool and his money are soon parted)

[Veemer 0]

That's pocket change compared to meeting a woman in the USA, and getting a divorce.

It will run 10 to 20 times that much in USA

WORD...........Sometimes its cheaper to keep her here in America

[yan 1]

That's pocket change compared to meeting a woman in the USA, and getting a divorce.

It will run 10 to 20 times that much in USA

WORD...........Sometimes its cheaper to keep her here in America

poor guy, what the heck s going on with him. thats stupidity to sent money to the people you dont even see in person or in a webcam