Filipina Scammer: Helena Pedroche (claims to be the illegitimate daughter of Ferdinand Marcos)

Didn't realise indexing worked so quickly

Thank you!

I have to say that having read Ms Blin's blistering vendetta* against you and your reporter - as well as against Charles Kelly and the OISC "thugs" (as she describes them) - I think you have shown remarkable restraint by being so moderate in your writings about her. That you spare her family by expunging evidence of her misdeeds does you great credit; I'm not so sure I would, or could, have been quite so charitable, given the circumstances.

Back to the original topic - and probably of greater interest to us - are you in a position to shed any light on Mrs Skeggs' current "business"? Is there, for example, a modus operandi that we should be aware of?


* See this page for several examples of Ms Blin's hate campaign.

So as not to cause any problems in this forum, I think it better to direct people to this page - http://www.balitapinoy.net/helena_skeggs.html- that contains around 10 stories including a couple of court reports. In a general explanation as to MO, it is via "friendships" and at Filipino social occasions giving it large and flashing the cash.

As to what is on in California that is ongoing and can't give any details at the moment. As to the Marcos connection, I think that has been dropped as having outlived itself. She has however been using the new surname of Topacio, with the forename of Elena, dropping the "H". This maybe because of High Court Sheriff's chasing her for £30K owing to one of her original victims who got a judgement.

That would indeed be the typical MO; OFWs are easy prey for such scams because they are typically isolated and thus place even more value on meeting up with fellow-nationals. Indeed we could say that the typical OFW is malungkot, unsure of her surroundings, and has a little money... perfect material for a fraudster!

Well, well, well. That is very interesting because a pal of mine (in the UK) and I have both agreed that Mrs Skeggs bears an unusual resemblance to this lady whom I won't name other than to say that her first name is Elena and her family name is Topacio. However this latter lady has a Filipino husband. So is Mrs Skeggs trying to pass herself off as someone who has a strong resemblance to her?

Markham - Elena Topacio was the name she used in the email during our correspondence. You should listen to the radio interview to determine if the accent or voice matches.

Thank you! We know that you are posting from the Los Angeles area, so for the time being we'll assume that you are a Filipina working as an OFW in the US.

Can you please explain how it is that you came into contact with the person now calling herself Elena Topacio? Did she, for example, contact you after she read a message you posted on another web site - possibly asking about where to find the best deals for tickets to the Philippines? Or has she set up a web site offering travel arrangements for OFWs and others?

Can you also explain how you made the connection between this Elena Topacio and Helena Pedroche and knew of her other aliases?

I won't ask you how much she scammed you for, I realise that it may be a bit painful to reveal that and that it took you quite some time to save that amount. But I will ask you this: Did she email you an invoice, or simply ask you to send her $xxx - and by what means did you send the cash?

We spoke on the phone while in the process of buying airline tickets. Then after realizing that the tickets were a sham, I went online to see if I can find her, and that's when I encountered the site Balita Pinoy. I noticed that some of the background info that she told me about herself was identical with the info that was disclosed on Balita Pinoy (ie. she was related to Marcos). Then I encountered the BBC 4 interview that Balita Pinoy posted on their site and that's when I realized that I was dealing with the same person.

I've listened to the radio interview and I've also read the transcript. But I have no idea if there's any similarity between her voice and that of the Mrs Topacio's whose Facebook entry I located. In fact, I would be very surprised if there were.

My point is that as Helena Pedroche has now adopted Elena Topacio's name - and Topacio is not a common surname - the real Mrs Topacio may suddenly find herself receiving messages from victims of the fake Mrs Topacio who, like I, found her on Facebook. And as I said, there is a strong resemblance if one compares their photographs.

Okay so you spoke on the phone but how did you know that she was offering cheap flights? And who contacted whom first? If you'd rather give me this information privately, then please use the private messaging facility - "Start a Conversation" which you will find under "Conversations" in the menu at the top of this page (click on your name on the tab located towards the right of this page).

Anyway, after all that, thanks for reporting this woman's activities to us.

As a matter of interest, did you notify anyone else, such as the UK Police or the Philippines Embassy or Balita Pinoy?

I join Methersgate in thanking you for bringing this woman to our attention. I think it is rather important that you should also pass-on your information to Balita Pinoy as its readership are more likely to be affected than ours. Almost all the Filipino members of this Forum are in some way connected with British husbands/fiances and therefore won't be as vulnerable to her schemes.

Yes, all you have to do is email us: info@balitapinoy.net