Scammers doctored Star Search 2019 finalist’s photos to con actor
Local celebrity Vanessa Ho has cleared the air over the photos doctored by scammers and used to swindle veteran local actor Laurence Pang.
Pang, 78, lost nearly 1.5 million pesos (S$35,000) after he was duped by “Mika” – a woman he met on a dating site – into investing his money in an online business scam in the Philippines.
The actor, who had roles in Singapore television shows like Tanglin (2015 to 2018) and Sunny Side Up (2022 to 2024), recounted his ordeal in Manila on the Jan 17 episode of the public service programme Raffy Tulfo In Action, hosted by Filipino broadcaster-turned-senator Raffy Tulfo.
In an amended post on Instagram, Ho wrote: “The initial news of the love scam involving actor Laurence Pang and Filipino scammer Mika was first populated on TikTok by Raffy Tulfo, which included the edited pictures of me that the scammer shared with the victim (posted in 2023).”
The 25-year-old continued: “The video accurately captured that the photos are fake. It had semblance to my original photos and were picked up by friends and followers despite the edits.”
One of the photos purported to be of Mika was believed to be taken from Ho’s Instagram post at a Japanese restaurant, while another was taken from a promotional photo for a mattress posted on her Instagram account. Ho’s face was doctored by the scammer, whom Pang believed to be Mika.
A former finalist of Star Search 2019, Ho is currently a co-founder and investment lead of Fintech Nation.
Ho, who earlier accused local website Mothership of editing her pictures for its story, clarified that Mothership was not the one that did so.
“Mothership reposted the news, with screenshots of the edited photos in an article and post,” she wrote, adding that some people might be led to think she was involved in the scam.
“Mothership has kindly amended the copies to clarify that the photos were shared by the scammers and not an accurate representation of the criminal.”
Mothership has included an editor’s note at the top of the story: “This article’s image credits have been amended to include the detail that screenshots were derived from the ‘Raffy Tulfo in Action’ podcast’s TikTok. Images of the woman ‘Mika’, provided by the male victim, were doctored and used by the scammer.”
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