two Filipinos in the United Arab Emirates were imprisoned after falling prey to a pyramid scam – for issuing bounced checks. The Philippine consulate in the UAE has sent a request to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs offices in Dubai and Sharjah to officially investigate the matter, said Consul General Benito Valeriano. “I am waiting for the official response of the governments of Dubai and Sharjah to my verbal note with the statements submitted by the victims to the Consulate-General,” Valeriano said in an article posted on UAE-based news site Khaleej Times (www.khaleejtimes.com). Valeriano noted that many of these Filipinos lost their jobs after spending time in jail. “I have to act swiftly on this complaint as this is victimizing Filipinos,” he added. Two hundred people in all were affected by the scam, 22 of whom were Filipinos, who sought the assistance of the consulate after they were jailed for issuing dud checks. The victims had given blank checks to a man running a debt collection agency in Deira but claimed he would provide loan extensions, but higher amounts were written on the checks. One of the victims, Dubai-based Olivia Merino, said she went to the Naif police station on Dec. 22 with her lawyers to file a complaint against the debt collection agency and the man who runs it. “My lawyers filed a complaint with the Prosecution on Dec. 9 after a Naif policeman took me to Sharjah and was jailed there,” Merino said. She said that when she went to file a complaint with the police, it turned out her name was there for a bounced check. Other alleged victims of the scam said they would see the director of the Naif police station this week to file their complaints.
