Donnalyn Bartolome opens up about being swindled out of P1 million

Donnalyn Bartolome warned followers to be careful about who they lend money to, as she shared her experience of being swindled by an acquaintance.

In a Facebook post on July 6, the “Kakaibabe” singer shared that she lost P1 million pesos after lending it to an acquaintance who said he would borrow the amount as “show money” for a car loan.

“Gandang birthday gift sa akin. Utang na P1 million, gone just like that. This guy is not the only one na nakautang sa akin but he is using my name to fool people into lending him money kasi kung pinagkatiwalaan ka nga naman ni Donnalyn ‘di ba? I’m posting to say nagkamali ako. ‘Wag kayo paloko,” she said.

(What a great birthday gift to me. P1 million borrowed from me, gone just like that. This guy is not the only one who borrowed money from me, but he is using my name to foll people into lending him money because Donnalyn trusted him. I’m posting to say I was wrong. Don’t let yourselves be fooled.)

Donnalyn shared screenshots of her conversations with the borrower, who messaged her on June 28. The borrower called her “lods” (short for “idol”) before casually asking for the amount and saying he would return the money immediately the following day.

After they spoke about the details of the bank transfer, Donnalyn sent the borrower a loan agreement, which they both signed.

The borrower later messaged Donnalyn saying that he couldn’t return the money because P4 million was supposedly stolen from him – including the amount he borrowed. Donnalyn responded by telling him that he was not supposed to touch that money because it was only supposed to be used as show money.

She gave him until the following day to pay her back. The borrower said he had P400,000 already, but Donnalyn insisted he should pay her back the full amount.

According to Donnalyn, she was not close to the borrower, and he only took a photo with her once. She said that she only knew him because they have mutual friends that she trusted. She blurred out his name and details in the screenshots, but it is implied that he is a fellow vlogger, after he mentioned that he would be giving his YouTube earnings to her for payment.

She said that it was not only the money that is lost, but trust.

“To everyone I trusted, whether it’s hundreds of thousands or millions pa ‘yan – the amount you will lose is far worth more than all the money in the world and that is my trust,” she said.

Donnalyn is known for her generous giveaways to followers. In June, to celebrate reaching 5 million followers on Instagram, Donnalyn gave away P1 million to one follower, and a Macbook Pro and an iPhone 12 Pro to two other followers. – Rappler.com