NBI agents on Wednesday arrested a woman in Parañaque who had gypped the wife of Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III and other wealthy victims out of millions of pesos, an official said Thursday.

The agents arrested Francesca Lim Santiago, 40, at her house on Zobel Street in the BF Homes subdivision and brought her to the NBI headquarters on Taft Avenue in Manila, National Bureau of Investigation officer-in-charge Nonnatus Caesar Rojas said.

He said NBI agents were also looking for Francesca’s husband Benjamin Lacson Santiago, 40.

Head agent Jonathan Galicia said actress Helen Gamboa-Sotto was one of the couple’s victims, and that she had filed charges against them. She said a string of cases had been filed against Francesca in various court, including passing off bad checks.

Gamboa-Sotto said she sold Francesca P8 million worth of jewelry, but P4.5 million of the money she paid her by check was dishonored by the bank.

Galicia said the Santiago couple’s racket was befriending people with expensive pieces of jewelry and then offering to buy them. They issued good checks initially, but subsequently they issued bad checks and then went into hiding.

The couple had been duping people since 2006, Galicia said, adding they also had been moving from one place to another to evade arrest.

(Published in the Manila Standard Today newspaper on /2012/May/25)