Boy drowns in Cebu City; scammer siphons off e-wallet donations

A four-year-old boy drowned after he tumbled onto a paved section by the riverside in Sitio Tal-ot, Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City before plunging into the water.

To make the situation even worse, the donation sent through an electronic wallet application was lost reportedly to a scammer.

The grandparent of the child disclosed that Mark Louie slipped past their attention. He went out of the house unnoticed.

It was too late when they learned of his predicament, the grandmother identified as Andrika Paraiso said.

The child was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Andrika said that the child was found to have sustained a crack on the head.

The situation was even made worse, Andrika said, when a scammer called them up through the number attached to their e-wallet application promising of monetary assistance.

The scammer asked for the One-Time Password (OTP) to the e-wallet account purportedly to expedite transfer of funds. However, the donations sent previously by concerned citizens that reached P16,000 were all lost to the scammer.

The family has asked the public for another set of help primarily for the burial expenses, emphasizing that they are financially constrained. —GMA Regional TV