Modus Operandi of the Most Common Crimes in Manila

Modus Operandi of the Most Common Crimes in Manila

Crime doesn’t pay and neither should you, not with your hard-earned cash, gadgets, credit cards, and even your life. Awareness is key to everything so brush up on the Modus Operandi of the old-timers and newbies in the world of fast cash cons in the country.

Sneaky Office Intruders

Scene of the crime:
Thieves prey on workplaces with little or no security, usually during lunch hour or the afternoon break when employees leave their desks.

Plan of attack:
Taking advantage of offices’ downtime, these intruders sneakily work their way in. They may take on different disguises like posing as an employee’s friend, visitor, or as a messenger--complete with a Visitor’s ID. They target valuables like mobile phones, cash, laptops and credit cards. Saksi reported in April 2009 how a woman was caught on camera stealing the wallet of Sandy Wong, an employee of a review center in Quezon City. The suspect slipped inside the office and stole the wallet containing cash and seven credit cards. By the time Wong reported the credit cards missing, four of them had already been used. Over P50,000 was charged to her. When the suspect tried to buy a laptop worth P23,000, the store tipped off Wong, and the police arrested a certain Liza Garcia. Upon reviewing the CCTV footage, it was found that Garcia was not the same woman seen inside Wong’s office.

Defense mechanism:
Unless your office has implemented extremely tight security measures, it may be wise to bring your valuables in a small bag wherever you go, or lock them up somewhere thief-proof. Definitely a hassle but it’s a lesser struggle compared to slaving away to pay for someone else’s shopping splurge. If an intruder has already hit your workplace, report the incident immediately. File charges if security catches him or her.

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