Estafa Case Concern

We sold a Macbook Air to a buyer this week and didn't expect that it will turn out to be a case of Estafa

So what happened was he asked me if I wanted the money to be deposited through my bank or just cash. I opted for deposit through bank so that I won't have to deposit it myself. The amount was P41,0000.

So the buyer set up an appointment of July 3, 2017 (Monday) to get the laptop. He apparently deposited the money to my BDO account since July 2, 2017 (Sunday). When we met up last Monday, he gave me the deposit slip, I checked my BDO account online and the money was there, so all and good. Come Wednesday, I checked my account again and noticed that the money was tagged as a "local returned check". I didn't have a clue that he used a check to deposit the money and that it needs a 3-day clearance for the actual funds to be deposited.

I cannot contact him anymore as he doesn't answer my calls and now he turned off his phone already. We met at Starbucks and I already requested for a CCTV footage so that I have evidence. We also requested the check retrieval from BDO so we should have it by tomorrow.

When we get the check, I'll be able to trace which bank he used. How do I do a trace from there? I know every bank follows the "Bank Secrecy Law" so how would I be able to pull up his details?

What is the next step to this headache? I hope you can help me deal with this. The amount is significant.

Why can't any lawyer reply here?

Do you have this person's contact details and address?

Hire a lawyer to prepare a complaint for estafa and BP 22.

That's the thing because I only have his contact number. I already have a case filed in PNP's Anti-CyberCrime Group and we need the address to proceed with the filing of the case to the court and getting subpoena's and a warrant of arrest.

I have the suspect's full name and photo already (we got it from Facebook and his bank confirmed that it is really him). It's just the address that we're having problems with. Can we request details of a person from NBI or NSO perhaps?

How much is it to hire a private lawyer? The police said that I don't need a lawyer for now as the prosecutor will be the one filing the case to court when we have the address already. I'm not sure if what they're saying is accurate hence why I posted in this forums seeking for help.

The Prosecutor's Office cannot be saddled with preparing your affidavit complaint. Unless you have already made a statement, and if you are already satisfied with that (there are usually a lot of grammatical errors and things that do not translate well when transcribed) then go ahead and do not hire a lawyer.

How about this person's place of work?

I see. I did make a statement in the police report already. Like I asked though, how much is the going rate of a private lawyer? We are after the Macbook or the 41K that should've given to us as payment. So hiring a lawyer that's super expensive would be kind of counter-productive to our goal, if you know what I mean. But I would really want to hire a lawyer if it makes the process easier.

No, the buyer is a total stranger to me. And based on FB comments, he really is a scammer.

We got hold of his last known address already. Any further help here please?

Fill out the NPS Data Investigation Form and attach the complaint. You might want to revise your statement to include this new information, and to include the fact that as it appears from Facebook, this is some sort of modus.

Will that form be provided by the police investigator of the case that I have filed in the PNP ACG? It does look like a modus and based on what we gathered most of his victims were his college batchmates.

No it's from the Prosecutor's Office

So do I need to file an NPS Data Investigation From separately when the police said they will also bring this up to the Prosecutor's office? Won't those be two redundant cases?

@Jadis

I talked to a lawyer friend and he recommended me to file a small claims case in court instead of trying to file a criminal case with the help of the PNP and Fiscal without a lawyer. He said that since the amount is just 41K, small claims is applicable. He also said that if I push through with the criminal case without a lawyer, it will take forever for me to wait for a lawyer from the Prosecutor's office to bring this up to court. And since I only have the temporary address of the suspect in Davao (I gathered that the suspect lives in Pateros), there is a high chance that the case will be dismissed by the court because a demand letter should be "physically" received by the suspect. In a nutshell, I need the exact Pateros address of the suspect to continue.

Are these information all accurate?

A little help here please?