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HCM City: Foreign visitors “slaughtered” by cheating games
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VietNamNet Bridge – After getting acquainted with foreign visitors in HCM City’s downtown area, a group of Filipinos invited them to their rented houses in the suburbs for dinner, lured them into gambling, and cheated victims out of their money.

HCM City police have arrested 11 Filipino people for swindling other foreign people by cheating games.

These people told the police that they came to Vietnam several months ago and they hired two houses in Thu Duc district to earn their living by cheating games.

They became acquainted with other foreigners in the downtown area, invited them to their rented houses for dinner, lured them into gambling, and cheated victims out of their money.

According to police, these people caused at least two cheating cases. In June 2011, this group took $3,000 and JPY60,000 from a Japanese man by cheating gamble.

The second case happened on July 13, and the victim was 19-year-old Canadian Emily Helen Garbe.

She had met Cesar Devilla, 58, and Dinido Macachor, 48, two members of the gang, at a shopping mall in District 1. They had struck up an acquaintance with Garbe, saying they wanted some information about her country since some of their relatives were about to go to Canada.

They had later invited her to their house in Thu Duc district, where Gemma D. Frend, 44, another member, persuaded Garbe to play blackjack for money. After playing four games, Garbe got the feeling of being cheated and said she wanted to stop playing.

At that moment, following a tip-off from the public, officers burst into the house and took all of them to the District 1 police office for questioning.

From the testimonies of the three Filipinos, the police later arrested eight more members of the gang from that and another house in the same ward. The police are continuing their investigation.

In May 2010, HCM City police arrested four Filipino and one Vietnamese who cheated foreign visitors by gamble. They confessed that they did not remember how many cases they had made until the moment they were arrested.

Dam De