THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) reiterated an earlier warning to the public to be wary of scammers posing as immigration employees on Facebook.
The warning came after the bureau received a complaint from an Indian student regarding a fake lawyer posing as an immigration hearing officer.
Investigation showed that there were many similar complaints in the past about this fake lawyer who introduced herself as a certain Atty. Lisa Perez Tubban and presented herself as a fixer who can process the application of alien students.
Records show there was no such person employed by the agency. The BI said she used the photo of one of the bureau’s contractual employees as her profile picture.
The victim, a female student in the country, started conversing with the suspect February this year, following a disagreement with her school.
The BI said current rules authorize only school representatives to process applications in behalf of the students. Because of the disagreement, the victim turned to Facebook to look for someone who could help her.
The fake employee offered to process her application but requested pre-payment sent through online fund transfer. The complaint stated that the victim paid a total of P45,000 in several tranches, before the suspect stopped replying to her.
Earlier, the BI posted a warning against fake immigration officers promising to escort travelers at the airport. In 2019, the agency also warned against fake employees involved in a love scam.
The said case will be referred to the National Bureau of Investigation Anti-Cybercrime Group for investigation. #
