Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, cautioned the public Sunday against falling prey to the “love scam” being perpetrated through social media platforms.

He issued the warning following the arrest of two Nigerians engaged in this scheme who extorted a huge sum of money from a businesswoman.

The suspects Felix Aondowase and Emmanuel Abia allegedly lured the woman online by pretending to be an Australian man.

It reached the point wherein the suspects made the victim send some private photos, which they later used to blackmail her into sending US$8,000 (around PHP400,000) to their Filipino contacts in Cavite.

The PNP chief warned the public to be extra vigilant and careful on whom they are talking to on various social media sites.

“This is not the first time that we encountered and arrested Nigerians using this modus that is why I already ordered our ACG (Anti-Cybercrime Group) and CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) to help each other to bust this syndicate,” Eleazar added.

The alleged Filipino cohorts of the Nigerians were also nabbed by authorities during an entrapment operation. The foreign suspects, meanwhile, denied the accusations against them.

Eleazar urged the public who were victimized by this kind of activity to report the incident to authorities. (PNA)