Package Scam

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There is a scam which is new to me but upon searching farther, it happened 10 years ago on a domestic helper of a Filipino celebrity. This is the situation. This dh had an American chatmate she met in a dating website. They became sweetheart online then as they became closer to each other online, the American told the lady that he sent a package via a certain courier. Then days after, the lady received a call from a person who introduced himself to be in charge of the courier. This in charge asked the lady that he could not deliver the package since there is a need to pay the clearance fee imposed by the Bureau of Customs. Since she is already closed to her employee being trusted, the employer paid for the clearance fee. Unfortunately, thereafter, no package arrived. Now, what happened to my friend is similar but a bit updated. Last week during our chat, my friend who lives in Southern Mindanao sent me a picture of a receipt containing the tracking number and other details of the package sent to her by her American boyfriend. It reflected that the package was sent on Feb. 17, 2025 and will to her address on Feb. 20, 2025/ I immediately tracked the number and it said that the package was still in the USA for sorting. I told my friend that it might be true since I have tracked the number. Then yesterday, I received her message that there was a call that she received that the package is already in the Philippines and she was made to pay Php 45,000.00 as clearance fee to the Bureau of Customs. At first, she told the caller to deliver the package before she'll pay the fees but the caller said that it cannot be delivered to her unless she pays the fees required. She informed her so-called bf about this that she could not afford to pay this, and her bf told her that she'll pay the fees because he was confined at the hospital because he was sick. After that her bf called her for several times but she did not anymore answer. I was confused as to why the package arrived in the Philippines after less than a week since it was mailed when as what is the normal situation, a package from abroad will arrive in our country between 1 to 3 months after it was sent. I asked another friend in the US about this and she told me that for sure it was a scam and she quoted what happened to the celebrity's helper who was scammed in the same way. Some people really do such things in order to get easy money. They don't have conscience. It's a pity my friend cannot afford to pay such sum of money so the scammers did not succeed.