March 29, 2024

The town of La Trinidad, Benguet is warning food establishments to be wary of scammers who pretend to order food on behalf of the municipal council office.

Municipal council secretary Ed Juanito said the scammer pretended to be him and ordered food worth P2,000 to P5,000 in four different food outlets in the municipality on July 7.

“The incident happened fast as four of the restaurants confirmed they received the call consecutively,” Juanito said.

He said their office immediately issued the warning and posted it at the “Sangguniang Bayan La Trinidad, Benguet” Facebook account and was shared by netizens.

From there, some food establishments, which are about to be scammed, did not continue with the latter’s order.

Juanito said the concerned restaurants and cafes only called after they prepared the items. He urged the food establishment owners to verify with them first prior to preparing the orders.

Some of the establishments ended up donating the ordered food to the La Trinidad Municipal Police Station instead.

The incident is not new, as it happened earlier but the scammer used the office of the vice mayor to order food but Juanito said they are not sure if it was the same scammer.

Juanito has submitted to the LTMPS cybercrime unit the cellphone number used by the scammer in calling the restaurants.

Municipal Information Officer George Babsa-ay said there were also individuals who placed orders online and used the mayor’s office as the delivery address.

Babsa-ay said they reported and referred these incidents to the PNP cybercrime unit.

All businesses are urged to thoroughly check and verify with the municipality before proceeding with the online transaction through the following contact details: Mayor’s office at 422-2601 while the municipal council office at 422-0601or 0951-696-3495. – Ofelia C. Empian