Villager almost gets victimized by alleged thieves in ATC resto; Warns others to be more careful when dining alone

Here is another reminder to always take care of your belongings and to always be alert of your surroundings when out in public.

In a Facebook post a couple of days ago, a male customer of Pound by Todd English in Alabang Town Center was eating alone around 8pm when two men approached him.

They claimed they were selling tickets for some charity.

“Since I was alone, the seat in front of me was empty. One of them suddenly sat in front of me while the other sat beside me and suddenly began begging me to buy a ticket from them,” detailed the man who requested for anonymity.

He got suspicious as the two men were just in their “pambahay” clothes and the ticket was just printed on a plain bond paper and without any identifiers of the charity they said they were connected with.

“There were barraging me from both sides with please and requests and forcing me to look at the ticket and away from my food,” he continued.

Already annoyed, he asked the two men to show him their ID’s just so he could verify if they were really connected with the charity they were claiming to be working for.

This then made the two scramble away from him and proceeded to another table of customers to sell the tickets to them.

“As they chatted the two diners up, their hands inched closer to the pockets of the diners,” the man observed.

Just then, the waiters of the restaurant approached the two men and asked them to leave the establishment.

Apparently, the two customers also noticed the men reaching for the original would-be victim’s pockets too before approaching them.

Both parties expressed their gratitude to the alert staff of the restaurant who said that they have heard of this modus happening in nearby establishments in the area as well.

Image from Alabang Town Center’s Facebook Page

The staff had also reported the incident to the mall management.

For their part, Alabang Town Center, with regard to the incident, expressed that they are currently looking into the matter and that their customers’ safety — both in shopping and in dining — are of utmost priority to them.

In an interview with Alabang Bulletin, the would-have-been victim said the guys looked like they were in their early to mid-30s.

“I don’t blame the security of ATC din because it’s really hard to spot these people as they really try their best to blend in with the crowd. Kudos though that they were able to come into quick contact with the resto because by the time I left there were more security personnel near Pound already,” revealed the villager.

So again, please be mindful of your belongings and of other people’s trickery nature as these criminals are really getting bolder and more intelligent (and evil) every day.