NextGen Day

The Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered a Pangasinan lady to repay PHP63,000 to a man who was tricked into using the accused’s GCash account to pay for two online purchases of mobile phones.

The appellate court upheld the Jan. 19, 2022 ruling of the Benguet regional trial court finding the accused, Regina Joy Ballesteros, civilly responsible to the complainant, Frank Lester Amistoso, in a 17-page decision written by Associate Justice Fernanda Lampas Peralta and published on Dec. 14.

But in regards to estafa accusations, it declared Ballesteros “not guilty on reasonable doubt.”

The complainant had the idea to buy two iPhone 12 units in March of last year after seeing a sponsored post on the social media site Facebook by a company called “Cruz Mobile Tech” that was selling premium cell phones for less than retail.

The complainant was informed by online communications that upon showing a valid identity card at the Globe Telecom store in SM Baguio City and making payment, the acquired units will be issued three to four hours after payment.

The complainant paid PHP63,000 for two mobile phone units to the GCash account that was supplied to him and registered to Ballesteros at the given address of Coldit, Asingan, Pangasinan after being convinced that the virtual transaction was legitimate.

Amistoso transferred the money but was unable to get in touch with Cruz Mobile Tech after that.

Later, Ballesteros was detained at the mentioned address. She validated the residence certificate supplied by the barangay and provided the same address on her booking paperwork with the authorities.

The appeals court’s decision that “there was no moral certainty that it was accused-appellant who committed the fraudulent representations and scheme because the prosecution failed to establish the identity of the author of the crime and the identity of the accused in relation to the actual commission of the crime” was upheld by the CA.

The appellate court, however, ruled that Ballesteros forfeited her chance to offer evidence to disprove her civil guilt.

She didn’t dispute having ownership of the GCash account that was paid by Amistoso.

Ballesteros did not refute the fact that the PHP63,000 had been transferred to and paid into her GCash account.

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