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The Great Wall of China in Mutianyu

The Great Wall of China is referred to in Mandarin as Wanli Changcheng (10,000-Li Long Wall or simply very long wall) BEIJING, CHINA- S...

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

P500-million ‘Birkin scam


How a woman’s obsession led to crime

Are you one of those women who dream having all the luxury in the world? Do you have wads of cash lying around or just dreaming of becoming filthy rich? Try to resist desire for material things that you don't believe you can ever have.

The names have been changed pending the filing of case in court.
Nate met Sheila (not their real names) in 2004 through his friend Jack, who owns an art gallery. Nate is the gallery director in a Manila university owned by his family. A former flight attendant who had taken a break from work when she married and had children, Sheila had just started working at Jack’s gallery.

Nate and Sheila quickly became friends. She was a very simple girl, he recalls in our interview, and even as she had no experience in the art scene, Sheila showed a knack for sales so that Jack began to trust her. Jack made her industrial partner, and later, managing director, widening her social network in the moneyed, art connoisseur set.

“When we first met, Nine West or Cole Haan were already expensive for her,” Nate says. “When she started hanging out with people from the art scene and several of her former flight-attendant friends who had married rich, that all began to change.”

He adds, “Louis Vuitton, she had a lot of those. Then this Birkin thing came about…”
Nate and Sheila’s friendship developed into a business relationship. It all started smooth and harmless. Nate would travel to Europe with his partner Tom, and Sheila would ask him to buy a few designer bags to sell her “clients.”

“At times, she said the orders would be three Chanels, five Goyards, one Hermes… All of these I would finance,” Nate says. “I made money by keeping the tax refund, and for each bag, depending on the price, I would get P10,000 to P25,000 each as carrier’s fee. I did that for almost 2½ years.”

Sheila made good on her word. “I enjoyed doing it,” says Nate. “With that alone, each of my flights to Europe was already paid for. And I was also into bags. I even earned points on my credit card.”

Then he quickly adds, “Let me be clear that I was only doing it for fun. I only did it on the side, I didn’t travel to Europe just to buy bags for her.”

It was about the time Hermes opened its first boutique here that things became complicated.

Plausible proposition
Hermes Birkin was the one bag everyone lusted after. But even if you had P500,000 lying around, which was the estimated cost of the cheapest Birkin in Greenbelt, the boutique couldn’t stock up by the dozens. If you wanted one quick, you had to look elsewhere.

“She asked if I wanted to invest in the Birkins,” Nate recalls.

The deal went this way: Sheila would ask an investor to pull in P450,000. In Europe, the cheapest Birkin costs shy of P400,000. She would sell the purse for P550,000. It was a plausible proposition: Some women would rather pay the extra P50,000 (over the Manila price tag) than travel to Europe to buy a purse.

Of the total sales, P50,000 would go to the carrier who buys the bag in Europe or elsewhere, P50,000 to Sheila as middle person, and P50,000 to the investor. In short, an investor’s P450,000 becomes P500,000 in just a month, or a profit of 11 percent—a deal  even the top banks couldn’t give.

This time, Nate was a mere investor, not a buyer/carrier.

“We did that for about six times,” Nate says. On the seventh time, Nate asked his nephew if he wanted to invest as well. The nephew said yes and, as usual, all parties involved laughed all the way to the bank.

“I never saw the Birkins; she just showed me photos on her phone,” Nate says. It didn’t matter. She paid him on schedule. Business was good.

Then came February this year. Nate was readying for another Europe trip when Sheila called to ask if he had P2 million. It was for a crocodile Birkin, she said, which would cost that much. She was sure she could sell the bag the following week. Expected profit was a cool P200,000.
“In a pyramid scam, this tactic doesn’t make you instantly rich, it makes you buy time,” Tom, Nate’s partner, points out. “If I ask P2 million from you, I’ll use it to temporarily make good with everybody.”

Looking back, Nate believes the P2 million was intended to pay off checks issued investors that were due for payment. At the time, he didn’t suspect yet that anything was amiss.
Again, Nate turned to his nephew for P500,000 with a promised profit of P50,000. “My nephew wanted to invest the entire P2 million but good thing I told him no.”

Nate met with Sheila a few days later, on Feb. 13, in a  friend’s house, where she handed him the check for the investment plus profit, dated Feb. 17.

“She looked different,” Nate says on hindsight. “She had no makeup on, no jewelry. She looked gaunt and sick. I didn’t know then that her financial woes were already piling up.”

On Feb. 15, a Wednesday, Sheila called Nate to say she wasn’t able to deposit the check payment of the Birkin buyer (to fund the check issued Nate). “Monday came and she called again early to say the buyer’s check bounced so she’d just deposit the amount to my account that afternoon. I kept calling the bank all day as I was leaving for Europe the next day, and nothing. I had already issued a check to my nephew dated Feb. 23. I didn’t want that to bounce, especially since I would be away. I decided to get back the check, and just paid my nephew in cash. I didn’t want any trouble with my family.”

Crumbling pyramid

On their way to the airport, Tom finally told Nate: “Can’t you see, the pyramid is crumbling?”
Tom says he always had misgivings about Sheila’s dealings, but he wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. He thought it was too good to be true, but he had no reason to doubt her; she was a good friend to Nate. And up until that moment, she always delivered.

Turned out his gut feel was right. “If you can make that much money out of nothing, why would you let other people in?” Tom says rhetorically. “You’d just keep it for yourself! The fact that she can extract money from people for nothing, she must be good, all right.”

Sheila has not been seen or heard from since February. Nate and their friends suspect she’s hiding somewhere in the US. When things unraveled, it became known that the woman had duped many people, including her own closest friends and Nate’s. The others lost enormous amounts that made the P550,000 Nate had lost seem like loose change.

“Funny because we had regular dinners and no one ever spoke of their business dealings with Sheila,” Nate says wryly. “It just seemed like good business that each wanted to keep it a secret…

“One time Sheila went to the wife-manager of an artist to ask for P5 million,” Nate says. “Her favorite line was ‘magwalis-walis ka diyan, baka naman may mahanap kang P5 million.’ When that manager told her she had no money and to ask from our friend Jane instead, Sheila replied that how could she do that when Jane was just on an allowance from her rich husband. In truth she’d already gotten P13 million from Jane!

“When it was suggested that she come to me instead, she told the person that we were not close. I’m the godfather of her son!”


Social butterfly

Nate estimates Sheila has made off with about P500 million from different people, based on the claims of those who have come forward. “We can’t really tell how much. More victims are coming out every day.”

(Nate, Tom and Celina, another victim, spoke to Inquirer on condition of anonymity, pending the filing of a case against Sheila. Other supposed victims declined our requests for interview.)
Nate witnessed Sheila’s transformation from the simple girl he met eight years ago to a Birkin-toting social butterfly.
 
On her birthday last April, Sheila had a Makati salon closed for her private party. She had the model’s posters on the walls replaced with her own portraits, and she hired a top caterer. After the salon party, she and her guests were chauffeured to a five-star hotel, where she hosted dinner and after-dinner cocktails.

Nate never wondered how Sheila was able to maintain her lifestyle; he just assumed her Birkin business was doing very good.

Sheila’s husband, Jake, works for a high-profile veteran politician and wears  designer suits.
“Hermes, Louis Vuitton,” Tom says. “He never wore Hugo Boss because he said it was beneath him, and that’s what he told people.” Jake’s shoe closet of over 200 pairs of designer brands—Prada, Dior, Gucci—was even featured in a shoe blog, says Nate.

In an art fair last year, Sheila’s young son pointed to a random painting and said he liked it. The mom didn’t think twice about plunking P75,000 for the painting, Nate says.

Of how the couple kept their lavish lifestyle, says Tom: “I told Nate that it could be one of two things: It was either Sheila’s business was doing so good, or her husband was really corrupt.”
One time, Nate went to a Greenbelt 4 boutique with Sheila and her husband. Jake paid for the purchases in cash. When Nate asked why he didn’t use a credit card since it was a large amount, Jake joked that it was better that way since it meant no paper trail.

Not just Birkins

Sheila’s scheme turned out to be not just about Birkins. “To others, it would be paintings,” says Tom, who also owns an art gallery. “She would show a photo of a painting on her phone. She’ll say 10 Anita Magsaysay-Ho! Even a Monet! How can she get a Monet! All these people believed! Different approaches to different people. Minsan alahas, watches. Very creative.
“There are lots of sad stories. She got money from someone who was getting chemo.

Someone’s house got foreclosed because they invested all their savings with Sheila. She also got money from the owner of her son’s school, even the PTA. Of course, how could they not trust her? She brought her son’s entire class to Ocean Park, complete with lunch!”

While no case has yet been filed against Sheila, the irony is that one of her former airline friends, Celina, is being sued by an investor who lost P7 million. Celina’s son had asked Jake to issue an affidavit attesting that Sheila and his mom were not “business partners,” ergo not in cahoots, as alleged in the suit, but Jake refused.

Celina was Sheila’s senior in the airline they worked for. The older woman was a sponsor at Sheila’s wedding.

“I had no reason to doubt her,” says Celina in a phone call to the Inquirer. “She had no history of being dishonest.”

Distressed about being sued for Sheila’s crime, Celina laments her predicament. “I really want to go after her, but I can’t even do that because I can’t pay for a lawyer; she made off with all my money!” She lost P11 million of her personal money to her old friend.

No haggling

A fashion designer, who asked for anonymity, describes Sheila as a good client for about five years. She never haggled, he says. At one point, she paid him with a painting; she claimed  she owned a gallery.

“That was her packaging: young, rich and successful,” says the designer. “She always wore new things. Her bags were always the latest.”

Nate also found out that Sheila never sold those Chanels and Celines he had been buying for her in Europe; she used them herself. “She just never wore them when we were together. But she told our friends they were gifts from me! No wonder when someone had a birthday, they would tease me, pa-Chanel ka naman.”

The week before Sheila disappeared, Nate learned she held a garage sale, apparently to offset her other debts.

“She had 40 pairs of Tory Burch flats. If she liked something, she bought it in all colors. The Celine bags that are so popular now, she had 12 of those, all in exotic leather.”

Their friend Amy, who was closest to Sheila, wasn’t spared. She offered to sell Amy’s croc Birkin, and the trusting friend said yes. Sheila didn’t sell the bag, she only pawned it. “Good thing Amy knew the person she pawned it to. Amy redeemed her own bag,” Nate says.

Lavish lifestyle

It wasn’t, however, the only time Sheila tried to pull a fast one on her best friend. She sold a 3-carat diamond ring to Amy, an object so cherished by the self-made IT entrepreneur that she had a safe built just for it.

But at a party,  a jeweler-friend noticed that the rock was a fake. Sheila  shrugged this off, saying that the stone must have been replaced by the person she entrusted with it for cleaning. She offered to reimburse Amy, just like that. The trusting friend was appeased.

Sheila’s tastes had gotten quite expensive through the years that on a Bangkok vacation last year with Nate, Tom and their girl friends, she refused to join them in the city’s bargain haunts. Instead she stayed behind in the hotel to get spa treatments, and shopped only in high-end malls.

Sheila’s Twitter account, which is public but hasn’t been updated since she disappeared, also provides an insight into her lavish lifestyle. Frequent subjects of her tweet exchanges with friends were designer clothes, bags, shoes and jewelry. (Her Facebook account has been deleted.)

Investors and creditors had cleared Sheila’s home of furniture and art pieces, says Nate, the same home she claimed she owned and had renovated for P2 million. “We were there for the blessing. It turns out they were just renting.”

Her family has since vacated the apartment, according to Nate.

“She just had to keep up with  friends!” Tom says. “She must have thought they wouldn’t stay her friends if she didn’t have the same things they had.”

Even in his resentment, there’s a tinge of grief in Nate’s voice over the friendship and trust that’s now in ruins. “She was really nice,” he concedes. “We never knew she would be scamming everyone.”                        
Source: Inquirer
In Shiela's warped mind she seemed to have care about Nate as she did not scam him as much as her other 'friends'. Plus when she told other people that she and Nate are not close saved Nate from possible law suit. It proved that he had nothing to do with her scam. 

It is sad that this woman and her hubby stooped down to just so people would envy them. Why do other people try so hard to impress people who would not care less about you if you were not rich.

Ikaw, ano ang gusto mong kaibigan? Isang kaibigan na ubod nang bait, grandiyosa at magandang makisama pero scammer o isang kaibigan na simple lang pero laging  nagsasabi ng tutuo at hindi manloloko?

Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg is an example of a wealthy person who knows being rich doesn't oblige him to live lavishly.


Tuesday, July 10, 2012

ABS CBN Tribute to Dolphy


ABS CBN Tribute to Dolphy
Up on his sleeves, is more than six decades of making Filipino laugh.
RIP to the King of Comedy Dolphy. Condolences to the comedian's family and friends. 

RIP Mang Dolphy. :-( 

Thanks for the laughter.


Dolphy dies at 83


http://travel-on-a-shoe-string.blogspot.com/2012/07/abs-cbn-tribute-to-dolphy.html
Caricature by John Bautista
Dolphy dies at 83. 

15 days short to his 84th birthday.

Dolphy, The Comedy King passed away this evening,at 8:34 P.M., Tuesday, July 10, 2012 at the Makati Medical Center due to multiple organ failure, secondary to complications brought about by severe pneumonia, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, and Acute Renal Failure.
Dolphy' s real name is Rodolfo Vera Quizon. He was born in Pampanga and was raised in Tondo.
 
I really feel sad. He gave us so much joy and laughter in times of trouble. I am really glad to have met him personally in Hong Kong on one of our summer vacations. I remember him as the ever smiling Mang Dolphy. He is now with my Dad and Mom in heaven. I bet they will be laughing together in heaven. Heaven will be a much happier place now with Mang Dolphy around.

Dolphy came from a very humble beginnings, and his admiration of comedians Pugo and Tugo influenced him to be a stage performer. His first screen name was Golay, and he used this name for his first movie with Fernando Poe Sr., the father of his friend the late action king Fernando Poe Jr.
Dolphy started his first career in a TV Show, Buhay Artista, at ABS-CBN with a talent fee of One thousand pesos. That was soon followed by many shows and movies.

Dolphy had 18 children to six different women. His last partner was actress Zsa Zsa Padilla.
  
The Filipino people will miss you! You have given so much Joy in our hearts.

Rest in peace, Mang Dolphy.


Sunday, July 8, 2012

The other side of the Fence


Have you ever wonder what's on the other side of the fence?  Yes, just like you probably, I have never been to Muntinlupa Penitentiary in my whole existence on earth. 

Until we got a surprise invitation to cover an event inside the penitentiary. I was not able to join the first two coverage. But for the finals of the Iron Chef,  I decided to take on the challenge. So for the very first time, last June, 2012,  I visited the maximum security compound of Muntinlupa together with seven other bloggers to cover the Finals of Iron Chef.

Yes, I will be honest with you, I was having second thoughts, yeah even third thoughts if there is such a thing. My family doesn't want me to go, but I told my brother that this is a chance of a lifetime and the organizer assured us that it is very safe on the other side of the fence. So, against my family's order,  I went and learned a thing or two lessons in life and conquer my baseless fear.

I was so excited to see for myself what I watched from the movies. This castle like facade is the main entrance to the Muntinlupa Bureau of Corrections.
There are two towers on both sides of the entrance. They say that the worst criminals wind up behind bars in Bureau of Corrections. This is where they house the maximum security compound. But there are also medium, low, and minimum-security prisons.
A flag pole with our Philippine flag waving mightily on top of the pole. And below is insignia of the Kawanihan ng Koreksiyon.

At the entrance we were instructed to log in at their record book, and state the reason of our visit. 
Next step is to present our valid government issued Identification cards. After they inspected our I.D. we were instructed to line up to have our pictures taken for our I.d. inside the penitentiary.
With our visitors I.D., we were asked to step on top of this platform for the body inspection/ search.
Then we were let inside the iron bars.  Inside we filled up another attendance sheet, and was subject again to another search. They wanted to get our phones and camera but our fellow social media blogger told them that we are there to cover the Iron Chef Finals. So we need our cameras to cover the event.
It was a very enriching experience. Inside the compound there's hundreds if not thousands of inmates. When we were interviewing the contestants for the Iron Chef finals, we learned that not all of them are hardened criminals. Some are just victims of circumstances.

In this crazy world we live in, it can be said that the more dangerous jungle is not inside the penitentiary but outside in the very community that we live in. Where we kill other people by the very words we utter against them. We judge as if there's no tomorrow. We said unkind words without the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes we are guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

Circumstances prove time and time again, that in order to live we have to let live. We do not judge so as not to be judge. Hitting people behind their back, does not only show cowardice but also show our breeding and upbringing.

People inside the penitentiary live in a community. I think that is a part of the rehabilitation process. They have inmate work program, health care, education and skills training, recreation and sports, religious guidance and behavior modification using the therapeutic community approach. I saw a basketball court, individual stoves, religious, hobbycraft, and was told that some inmates paint different art works that they sell to big department stores. How I wish we were brought in that area. Maybe next time,  they will show us the art works of the inmates. Some inmates are like vendors they sell their hobbycraft for a very cheap price. My co-blogger Karen was able to purchase a jug like coin bank/ piggy bank ( ok, ok. Alkansya in Tagalog. Ha ha ha!)

Imagine a piggy/ jug bank for only Php 150.00. This work of art is so gorgeous!
I also wanted to buy something from them, to at least help them earn, but our companions are already waiting for us. I waited for Karen and at the same time sent signals to our other companions to wait for us. We hurried back to join our group.

At the exit you will see this sign hanging on the iron bars. Read and reflect on them...
I will be blogging about the Iron Chef finals on my other blog, so stay tune!

Have a free and happy day!


ONLINE ENTREPRENEUR SEMINAR


Blogging: The Formula For Success

Event Details
 
You are invited to join us in this workshop! 

Blogging Workshop
Skill level: Hobbyist, Semi-pro to Start-up Pro

The Course Outline of the Workshop will be as follows:
1. Top Mistakes Newbie Blogger Makes that destroys their brand and credibility on Day 1.
2. Critical Elements of a Successful Blog which I learned from 7 years of professional Blogging Experience.
3. How to Blog (from a Pro-Blogger Point of View)?
4. Marketing Strategies for your blog: SEO, Social Media and Email Marketing
5. How to Grow your Readership Base Exponentially?
6. How to Monetize your Blog 101 (Google Adsense, Direct Ads)
7. Top Considerations before Quitting your Day Job and going Full Time on Blogging


When: July 13, 2012
Time: 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Where: Studio SnR, 3rd Floor Millenium Plaza Building, Meralco Avenue, Ortigas Center (the building is right next to the Caltex Gas Station, corner of J. Vargas and Meralco Avenue) 

If you are interested to attend feel free to call or text or e-mail Ginger Palma Arboleda
manilaworkshops@gmail.com
Cp # 0917-855-5990


THE AMAZING SPIDERMAN MOVIE


I got so excited when I received an invitation to the Spiderman Movie. 
When I went to watched the amazing spider-man movie at My Cinema in Greenbelt 3 last July 4, 2012 they gave us Spiderman Doughnut! No photo though :-( ! Why? Because my SD Card encountered an error :-( Sad.

Verdict: The movie is nice. It shows the beginning of Spiderman, what makes him thick and the very reason why he started hunting criminals.

With the doughnut : I so love it!. Thanks Krispykreme and of course Geiser Maclang you're the best!


Friday, July 6, 2012

NIDO DISCOVERY CENTER ROBOT ZOO CONTEST WINNERS


NIDO DISCOVERY CENTER ROBOT ZOO CONTEST WINNERS

First, I would like to thank all the people who took time to enter the contest. And don't worry I will be having another giveaway, so go lang ng go! Malay mo ikaw na ang next winner! Again, maraming maraming Salamat po!

 

Congratulations to:

KIMBERLY REMIGIO

JAMELYN BUENCUCHILLO- Update she responded and sent me a picture with her son!


Congratulations! Because of that Travel on a Shoestring, Geiser Maclang and Nido will give you not 1 but 3 Tickets! Congratulations!!!!!  Yes, you could now bring Daddy along! They want you mommy Jamelyn, your son and Daddy to go together to the Robot Zoo. Don't forget to send us your pictures when you visit the Robot Zoo Nido Discovery center at SM Mall of Asia.

To KIMBERLY REMIGIO GeiserMaclang would like to give you enough time to reply, please  e-mail me at travelonashoestrings@gmail.com your real name, home address, pictures and e-mail address until July 18, 2012. I hope that is enough time already for you to send me an e-mail and picture. Kindly prepare your I.D. for claiming the Tickets.

Since, the second winner did not reply I chose another winner. Congratulations Ms. Gina Rogelio you won 3 tikets to the Robot Zoo.

Attention to the winners:
Please note that if you fail to send me your details and pictures until 12 noon of July 18, 2012 the sponsor will choose another set of winners and your tickets will be forfeited so please cooperate. Thanks for your cooperation.

The Robot Zoo at the Nido Discovery Center in SM Mall of Asia is not a permanent exhibit. It will only be there until the end of July then it will be transferred to Dubai ( if the information given to me was correct.) So don't miss your chances. Visit the Robot Zoo Now! Thank you very much!


A Salute to Philhealth Staff


 
I salute the dedication of the Philhealth employees at the Quezon Avenue Branch. The staff starts working at 7 o' clock in the morning until they served the last man standing in line every single day. 

As Philhealth members, the least we could do is be kind to them and give them a smile when we go to their office. 

I heard a lot of complaints while applying for a Philhealth card. People, maybe you got so mad standing for so many hours lining up because you decided to pay on the last day of payment for the quarter, well siree, that is already your fault. There is three months in every quarter, you could pay at the bank or bayad center long before its due date.

It is now the policy of the bank not to accept payment a day or two before the due date so take note of that po.

Yes! Payment can be made well in advance through their accredited banks nationwide or at bayad center or at Philhealth offices nationwide long before the end of the three month period.

Some people also got mad because their is no aircon at Philhealth Quezon Avenue, well you are only there once every quarter, whereas those Philhealth employees are there every single day. Yes, those Philhealth employees have more reasons to complain than you. But they don't, at least they're saving people's money. Our taxes or Philhealth contributions will not go to the electricity bill. Thus, we save money. :-)

I also learned that in order to serve more people paying a visit at their branch, these Philhealth employees sacrifice their lunch break from an hour to half an hour each on rotation with NO LUNCH BREAK! That means the flow of transaction is non-stop, which is good for us Philhealth members.
Please be aware too, that our contributions will increase come October 1, 2012 so better avail of the old rate. Our one hundred pesos per month contribution will increase by one hundred percent making the new contribution payable Two hundred pesos per month.

So if you want to save money better pay your Philhealth contribution in advance until the end of 2013 before October 1, 2012.


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