By Gina Tabonares
Variety News Staff

POLICE are advising business owners to be extra vigilant because of several modus operandi targeting trade and commercial establishments.
On Monday morning, police received reports that two women separately tried to use stolen checks and fake money in a supermarket and a gift shop.
Police were called to investigate a reported stolen check at the Payless Supermarket at the Micronesia Mall in Dededo.
The supermarket assistant manager told GPD officers that Valorie Pangelinan Santos was trying to cash a payroll check made out to her from Royal International Corp.
The check is worth $649.34 but when they further checked with the firm, it was not on the approved list of the company.
A further investigation showed that Santos had tried to cash a suspected forged payroll check at the same location several days earlier. The first suspected forged payroll check was supposed to be made out to her by Luen Fung Enterprises for $656.81.
As she was leaving the supermarket, Santos was instructed to return to Payless for an interview. She was asked where she got the payroll check and Santos responded that the owner/payee, Hyon Ok Werns, owed her money and it was given to her as collateral.
It appeared that the check on Citizen Security Bank had also been altered by scratching off the original markings. Also confiscated from Santos were two blank checks from Bank of Hawaii, which is under the name of Hyon Ok Werns and Robert Werns: one partially made out for $9,000 and the other partially made out for $6,000.
Santos, who was convicted for burglary in the Superior Court two months ago, was charged with forgery as a third-degree felony.
This developed as the Attorney General’s Office filed another forgery charge against a 59-year-old woman who claimed that she is a legitimate businesswoman transporting goods from the Philippines to Guam.
Nenita Tee Ng Cha was arrested after she paid a $100 bill at Underwater World in Tumon on Saturday.
Cha attempted to pass the U.S. currency in the gift shop to pay for some items. It was accepted by the cashier but later discovered to be fake when the watermark didn’t match the real bill.
Police officers who were called to investigate the counterfeit money were able to locate Cha in the area.
She was interrogated and was asked if she would like to have her other money checked as a courtesy but she refused to do so.