SYNDICATED ESTAFA. Katherine Posas Diao was arrested by operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu on April 16, 2021. Piao is wanted for syndicated estafa. (Photo courtesy of PNP-CIDG)
MANILA – Operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) nabbed a 46-year-old woman wanted for syndicated estafa during operations in Cebu.
CIDG director Maj. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro identified the suspect Katherine Posas Diao, who was arrested at around 9 p.m. on Friday at Block 1-Lot 5, City Homes in Basak, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.
Ferro said the suspect, a native of Davao City, was arrested by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by Mario Duaves Presiding Judge, Regional Trial Court Branch 15, Davao City, on Feb. 7, 2020. No bail was recommended.
Ferro said Diao is one of the incorporators of Organico Agri-business Venture tagged as “Big Time Scammers in Davao City and other parts of Mindanao."
“The pursuit of these deceitful individuals shall continue even amidst the Covid-19 response operations. They are taking advantage of the hard-earned money of our people and engage them in a scam. This is just repulsive,” Ferro said.
The syndicate was “victimizing and inciting” people to engage in a Ponzi scheme, a fraudulent investment scam similar to a pyramid scheme using new investors' funds to pay the earlier backers.
The arrested suspect was brought to the police station for documentation and proper disposition. (PNA)
