Desperate for a good legal advice: ESTAFA

Dear Attorneys,

First of all, I am thankful that I found this site and that there are lawyers like you who spend time answering queries from individuals who are facing legal cases.

My brother issued checks that bounced 8 times. The amount does not exceed
PhP 200,000. Almost 2 months ago, he issued another postdated check using his mother-in-law's to pay for the computers he ordered. The first check came good but the next ones weren't been cleared as the mother-in-law closed the account. My brother owes him a total of PhP 466,000.

In behalf of my brother, I faced the computer store owner and offered to pay him PhP 10, 000 monthly while we are looking for means to pay him in bulk. The amount (PhP 10,000) will be the minimum. I made that offer to tell him that we are not running from this obligation and that we are willing to pay him. In fact, I've already deposited PhP 5,000 as a way of saying I am serious with this deal.

We still have not come up with a written deal as the computer store owner is hopeful that we could give a big amount this month. It's also affecting their business and causing a lot of stress in their end. He subtly suggest that he will file charges against my brother.

Knowing about Estafa, I know that they can really sue my brother. My question is, how much do we pay to bail my brother out of jail. And how long can he be put behind bars? If he gets imprisoned, will we still pay the computer guy? What is the best alternative we could consider so that my brother doesn't go to jail? Please help me. I really need a good advice on this. Thank you so much!

what happened to the computers he bought? he used them? or resold them? was he not paid? for almost P500,000, you can't just offer P10k a month.

what i recommend is that you enter into a payment scheme where you have to offer as large a downpayment as you can. it has to be at least half. then the rest is monthly payments you can afford. consider getting bank loans just to be able to do it.

if you are able to enter into this agreement, then it can be used as defense against estafa because there is a new obligation which is just a loan. failure to pay a debt is not a crime whereas issuing bad checks for goods is.

that will obviate estafa, but not a charge of bp 22.

note that the persons with criminal liability here are your brother and his mother in law. this degree of estafa is non-bailable.

Good day! I am seeking for advice about the Estafa case that my mom is facing today. I dont know why she was filed a estafa but as she mentioned, this case is more than 10 years ago and now its reopenned. Is there any excemption about the time frame of estafa? Ill ask for more details about what truly happened. Your advice is truly appreciated

when you say reopened, who is reopening? what office is handling the case, court or prosecutor's office?

Dear Atty LLL:

Thank you so much for your response. I think my brother is guilty of ESTAFA.

He borrowed money from a lending company that asks for 20% monthly interest. Because he wanted so much to start his own business, he took this opportunity thinking he will be able to pay it. But things were so bad for him that his debt interest skyrocketed. Three months ago, an office ordered some computers from him (he sells computers). And since he doesn't have money, he asked his mother-in-law to lend him post dated checks, which he used to pay for some computer units. He got death threats within those months too. Scared that he will be killed, he paid the money he earned from selling the computers. With that, he wasn't able to deposit money to his mother-in-law's account so when the other guy tried to withdrew money amounting to PhP 104,000 it bounced.

On top of the PhP 104,000 that bounced, he still owes this guy PhP 360,000. We offered to pay the guy PhP 10,000 monthly while we are working on getting a bigger amount of money. But this guy because he needs money too, keeps on bluffing that he knows someone from the NBI. It's a simple way of implying he'll get my brother behind bars.

My reason for writing is to know what case they can file against my brother and how much bail do we need to bail him out. Or is this case non-bailable? Thank you Attorney. Blessings.

bad checks for goods is estafa, but the good thing is that the first check cleared and hopefully this will be considered absence of malice on the part of your brother when he entered into the contract to buy computers, so that all he and his mother in law will be charged of is bouncing checks. no guarantees though.

regarding the nbi, your brother cannot be arbitrarily arrested. estafa is not a continuing offense.

hopefully, someone will be willing to re-finance the loan. better rates will be available with collateral.