Mother Begs for Blood Donation: Truth or Scam?
A few months back, a friend of mine told me about an elderly lady who approached her while she was on her way back to work after buying breakfast from a nearby fast food store in Taguig City. It was still quite early in the morning, around 7AM perhaps, when the elderly lady talked to her and asked her if she could donate blood for the lady’s sick daughter. She said that her daughter needed type A blood and that they just needed to go to the hospital if my friend was willing to donate. According to my friend, the call for help looked genuine, but she wasn’t able to help the elderly lady at that time.
Going to some place with someone who you just met for the first time might not be wise, especially with the prevalence of crimes in the metro nowadays. My friend asked her if she had already eaten. The lady said no. Since my friend didn’t have money at that time because she just brought enough to buy breakfast, she gave her the breakfast that she got instead, which the lady accepted. Then, they parted ways with well wishes.
Unfortunately, a story about an elderly lady asking for blood donations somewhere in Makati surfaced on the Internet recently and a photo of the elderly woman was posted along with the story. When my friend saw the photo, she confirmed that it was the same lady who approached her in BGC.
Here’s the photo of the elderly woman asking for blood donations. We blurred out some parts for security purposes of the elderly woman.
(Photo from socialtrendsph.com)
Â
On the post accompanying the said photo, it detailed a call for help. According to the post, since the original uploader wasn’t able to help the elderly lady because of blood incompatibility, they simply wanted to spread the word to reach the people who can possibly help her.
In an unexpected turn of events, a post on Facebook stated the possibility that it could be a scam. Here’s the post:
(Photo from socialtrendsph.com)
Â
Rough translation:
I feel bad for this Lola (grandma) not because of the story behind this article but because she is part of a syndicate who made her a con artist to scam other people especially the call center community. I almost fell victim because I was moved by her crying and begging. The year was 2010, my friends and I were walking along Megamall when she approached us saying that her daughter was confined in Ospital ng Pasig and they needed 4 bags of blood (spot on because there were 4 of us then). My friends rejected her and I am the only one gullible enough to believe her only to find out that she was lying, and all the crying and begging were plainly staged. I did not doubt her even though she declined all of the possible help that I offered to her (I told her that we’ll go to GMA, ABS-CBN, Red Cross, Police Station). She said no because she said that she’s been there already and got turned down. As we were walking, she said that there’s a bus stop at the back of Shaw that we can take to go to the hospital. I wasn’t familiar but I agreed. Luckily, there was a guard in St. Francis that walked towards us but the old lady moved away. I got suspicious so I talked to the guard and they confirmed that it was a modus operandi. She will prey on possible victims who will believe her and if you agreed to go with her, you will be brought to the bus stop but there’ll be a vehicle waiting there to forcibly take you. I was lucky that we weren’t that far yet. Additionally, my friends were still around so I ran towards them and when I caught up with them at MRT Ortigas Station, we reported what happened to the police and they confirmed that it was a scam. Do you remember that Antonette and Dian? That was a close one! Then, I saw the elderly woman again in Market! Market! in 2012 and she approached me again crying. I wasn’t able to control myself so I said to her, “I know you, so please stop this modus. I feel very sad for those who fall victim to this.” She just walked away crying. I hope this is stopped and no one else becomes a victim. To the one who posted this story, I know your intention is good, but unfortunately, hers is not.
Have you experienced the same thing where an elderly woman approached you crying and begging for blood donations?Â
What did you do?
Do you think this is a genuine call for help or a scam?
Share your thoughts with us.
Mother Begs for Blood Donation: Truth or Scam?
