A woman landed in jail after being caught by the authorities repeatedly claiming maternity benefits from different branches of a money transfer company in Valenzuela City, Thursday afternoon.
According to the report of PLt. Robin Santos, chief of the Station Investigation Unit of the Valenzuela City Police, the suspect was identified as Joan Esteban, 26, a resident of Tangos North, Navotas City.
Esteban was found to have claimed Social Security System maternity benefits through ML Lhuillier money transfer, at the Malanday branch amounting to P27,296.00 using the police clearance and barangay ID under the name of “Allyssa”.
An employee of the company said that the suspect has been victimizing various money transfers using the same modus operandi.
Company upon learning of the suspect’s activities, alerted all its branches that someone has been able to claim SSS maternity benefits until the real owners came.
It is said that there are pictures of Esteban scattered in all branches of ML Lhuillier, so when she made this claim, the cashier asked her to remove her face mask so she can be photographed as a Standard Operating Procedure of the branch.
When it was confirmed that she was indeed the suspect, the company employee quickly called sub station-6, which immediately responded and arrested the suspect after she accepted the money.
The suspect was found to be using various fake IDs under the names of the real beneficiaries.
The suspect already got an amount of P55,246.00 at the Navotas branch on July 27, 2022; P41,800.00 in Sangandaan, Caloocan branch, on September 16, 2022, and P37,796.00, in Mabini, Caloocan branch.
Recovered from the suspect was the amount of P27,296.00, Caloocan City police clearance ID and barangay ID in the name of one “Allyssa”, company ID in the name of the suspect and a cellular phone.
The police are now investigating every detail and modus operandi of the suspect, particularly the details of how the suspect knew such as the names of the beneficiaries, the control number of the claims, the date of obtaining the money, the amount of the money she obtained and if the suspect is a member of a syndicate that pretends to be a different identity or a stolen identity in order to deceive others.