Image: Instagram/@marlomortelmusic
Singer-actor Marlo Mortel warned the public of a scammer using his name to get the contact numbers of various Filipino celebrities.
Mortel took to Instagram yesterday, Nov 4, to alert his fans and followers of an unknown person pretending to be him.
The singer-actor shared screenshots of a conversation with the scammer who claimed to be Mortel. It is unclear who the impostor was exchanging messages with.
After asking who the unknown number belonged to, the unidentified person appeared to have sent the contact numbers of a certain Tom and actor-chef Jose Sarasola. The scammer then asked for the phone numbers of Jairus Aquino, Robi Domingo and Donny Pangilinan.
The scammer claimed to be asking for the contact details of the celebrities to invite them to a basketball game against people from the TV network GMA. The impostor even offered a P20,000 talent fee.
Mortel also included a screenshot of a note, in which he clarified that he was not contacting anyone for a basketball event.
“This person has been using my name to contact different celebrities and get personal information,” he warned.
Addressing the scammer, Mortel said: “If YOU don’t stop, I am gonna take legal actions.”
Mortel revealed that this was not the first time he had fallen victim to the said impostor. He stated that the unknown person posed as him three years ago and carried out the same scam.
“YOU CALLED AND PRETENDED TO BE ME TO GET INFORMATION AND EVEN SAID NASTY THINGS THAT I TOOK THE BLAME FOR,” Mortel stated.
“I MAY HAVE LET YOU OFF THE HOOK BUT THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT,” he declared. “YOU’LL SEE. (NEVER FALL FOR THIS).”
Meanwhile, DJ Jhai Ho also revealed that he previously fell victim to a similar scam.
“Ganyang ganyan pero asking for numbers din ng ibat ibang celebs! Kakaloka!!!” he said.
(Similar to that but asking for numbers too of different [celebrities]! Unbelievable!!!)
Image: Instagram/@marlomortelmusic
Aside from Mortel, Lea Salonga has also been victimized by people using her name for scams. A fake account, for example, posed as Salonga by using her name and profile photo to solicit money from her fans last June. /ra
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