BEN (real name withheld) of New York received an invitation from a woman named Katrina while he was online in an adult video chat site last May 12.
The 26-year-old American businessman obliged, stating in his affidavit that the woman was beautiful.
Katrina then told him to go to another chat group where the latter asked him to a lewd act.
Ben did what he was told to do, but he regretted doing it.
Ben learned that Katrina had recorded what he did and she thenstarted a series of extortion threats that robbed him of around US$3,000, around P150,000, in the past three months.
The foreigner sent cash through money transfers every time Katrina asked him, as the latter threatened to spread his scandalous video, according to Regional Anti-Cybercrime Office (RACO) 7 Chief Leo Dofiles.
Katrina also befriended Ben’s friends on Facebook and told them he kept a video.
Last Thursday afternoon, the extortion activities ended after RACO 7 operatives caught Katrina’s mother Marissa Amoin Aumentado, 44, in an entrapment in Barangay Gun-ob, Lapu-Lapu City. The operatives arrested her after she claimed P5,000 from a money transfer firm in Gun-ob.
On the same day, Dofiles sent an email to Ben, informing him that Katrina is the alias of Rodmark, the gay son of Marissa.
Dofiles said that Rodmark, 24, allegedly told Ben that he is a minor, plunging the foreigner into depression.
“The complainant was afraid and the suspect told him he has a friend who is a police officer,” he said.
For her part, Marissa denied she and her son were “sextorting” Ben, saying the foreigner has been Rodmar’s lover for four months already.
She said Ben sent them cash weekly. Her family had received more than P100,000 from him.
“Nahibung ko nganong gidakop ko. Sila ray sigeg chat. Wala koy kalibotan (I wonder why I was arrested. They were the ones chatting. I had no idea what was going on),” said Marissa.
She said that Rodmark instructed her to claim the money because she has an identification card.
She accused Ben of forcing her son to do a “show” in front of the web camera.
Before the arrest happened, Ben sought the help of the Department of Justice in Manila last Aug. 5. The agency contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which got the sworn complaint-affidavit from the foreigner.
The complaint was sent to RACO 7, which later planned the entrapment.
Dofiles urged Rodmark to surrender and warned him not to spread the video, saying he will face additional complaints.
Marissa and Rodmark will face a complaint for robbery-extortion in relation to violating Republic Act 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
Dofiles said the case is unique as the complainant is in the United States. It was a “test case,” he said.
The official advised the public not to deal with strangers on the social media or in dating websites, as these people might be scammers.
Dofiles said poverty should not be an excuse for a person to engage in illicit online activities.
Last March, police arrested Jerry Flores, 37, for allegedly extorting money from foreigners.
He was arrested in a pawnshop in Barangay Yati, Liloan town, northern Cebu.