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| The victims had to pawn their passports to borrow more money for John |
By Daisy CL Mandap
In just over two months, a group of Filipina domestic
workers found themselves neck-deep in debt, all because of a charlatan who
promised to get them work visas through a tech company he was supposedly setting
up.
Banking on that promise, the five Filipinas racked up debts
totaling a whopping $312,000, money they said all went to the Egyptian man they
identified as John, but whose passport name they gave as Ghonam Aly Elsayed Aly
Ibrahim.
But after reportedly demanding increasing amounts of money
each month from the victims, saying he needed funds to set up the business and
for him to live on, John suddenly cut off contacts with them by the end of last
month.
By then, the Filipinas were already facing the fruit of
their folly. Debt collectors from the various financing companies and
individuals they borrowed money from, began calling them up to demand payment.
As a result, at least three of the alleged victims had their
contracts terminated, and they would soon head home penniless and in tears, fearful
of the adverse consequences of not being able to pay the huge amounts of money
they had borrowed so recklessly.
All five filed statements at the Consulate on Jul 15, with
at least one making a separate complaint at the Central Police station.
Everyone was desperately seeking advice, wary of the notorious debt
collectors that were closing in on them, and worried they could no longer work in Hong Kong.
The alleged scam unfolded on Feb. 18 this year, when Vivian
- who was among those who complained - met John, a good-looking man who said he
was from Alexandria, Egpyt, in a park in Hong Kong.
John, who was on tourist visa, reportedly wanted to look for
a job in Hong Kong , but he had no money. He
allegedly said he could also set up his own IT company from home, but he must
need at least a computer and an iPad.
Vivian responded to this by borrowing $30,000 from a
financing company so John could buy whatever he needed for his business, and to
pay the recruitment agency that would help him find a job.
Not long after, they became a couple.
But soon, John’s needs began to include his daily meals and
accommodation, forcing Vivian to borrow heavily. In the end, she said her
losses had run up to no less than $110,000.
Still, John reportedly kept asking for more that Vivian had
to look for other people who could help put up the money for him.
That was when Mariz, whom Vivian met at the training centre
they both attended in the Philippines
Mariz, a single mother of three who had been working in Hong Kong for only 15 months, was easily lured by the
promise of transitioning from maid to staff at an IT company that she readily
took out a loan of $20,000 on Apr 15 to give to John.
At one point, she said Vivian even managed to get her to
sign the loan agreement for an iPhone 8 that they bought for John in Worldwide Plaza
Mariz ended up borrowing a total of $80,000 for him.
But so impressed was she of John’s vision, and also allegedly
because of Vivian’s relentless nudging, that Mariz enticed a 24-year-old niece
to also borrow money to help set up their dream company. This young newcomer
ended up with debts totaling $63,000.
A friend who also quickly fell into the trap reportedly
ended up indebted by $52,000; while a friend of this friend lost “a mere”
$7,000 because she got into the picture much later than they did, and even
managed to make Vivian pay $2,000 of her original $9,000 loan.
According to Mariz, they were told to borrow money nearly
every week that on their days off they would look for all possible sources,
even the loan sharks who demanded their passports and work contracts as
collateral.
At one stage when she began entertaining doubts about the
whole scheme, Mariz said she was told by Vivian that she already had a two-year
work visa and had paid for a flat that she and John would move into. That
reportedly erased whatever doubts she had in her mind.
Thus, when John had to leave for Macau
at the end of his three-month visitor visa, Mariz said she even went there on
her day off to deliver some of the borrowed money. She said John and Vivian
gave her money for her boat fare, but the loaned amounts were delivered to them
intact.
That was the first and only time she met the man who would soon leave
