PNP News Releases 2006

PNP UNCOVERS BOGUS PAYCHECK RACKET

The Philippine National Police is hot on the trail of a syndicate passing off spurious PNP paychecks to unsuspecting victims.

PNP Spokesman, Chief Superintendent Samuel D Pagdilao Jr. today warned business establishments from falling prey to this fraud even as he advised the public to be wary of some individuals cashing PNP paychecks at attractive discounts.

"The paychecks issued by the PNP are not supposed to be legal tender and must be encashed only by the Land Bank of the Philippines," Pagdilao advised business establishments engaged in the practice of accommodating paychecks as payment for goods and services.

According to Pagdilao, reports reaching the PNP National Headquarters in Camp Crame revealed that 25 counterfeit checks were encashed thru some grocery stores, commercial establishments and private lenders in Northern Mindanao and Southern Tagalog regions.

The Land Bank of the Philippine thru its 1st Vice President of the Banking Services Group, Ms. Yolanda Velasco, has sought the assistance of the PNP for a deeper investigation into this fraud.

Both Pagdilao and Velasco agree that such fraud is possible only in some areas that are not yet enrolled in the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) payroll system, unlike in Metro Manila and in some regions where monthly salary and allowances are automatically credited to individual ATM accounts of PNP personnel every 15 days.

A report from Senior Superintendent Orlando Pestaño, Acting Director of the PNP Finance Service, revealed that members of the syndicate had posed as police officers wearing PNP uniform and encashed batches of forged or spurious paychecks purportedly payable to the account of some PNP regular members.

To make the scheme appear more legitimate, the syndicate members pass off the bogus paychecks along with falsified "supporting documents" such as Special Power of Attorney, authorization letters, and photocopies of PNP identification cards.

According to Pestaño, the 25 bogus paychecks were found to have no security fibers and the data and entries were dubious. The checks purportedly covered Salary and Allowances for the month of October 2006, totaling P385,430.70.