Krizelle Dianne Respicio, one of the CEOs of Alpha Assistenza SRL accused of scamming 400 Filipinos in Italy and the Philippines, has been bilking people of their hard-earned money since 2020.

This, Eddie Dellosa Natnat, one of Respicio's "victims," told DAILY TRIBUNE and Usapang OFW yesterday amid investigations launched by the justice, foreign affairs, and migrant workers departments on the so-called Alpha 400 scam.

Natnat revealed that he first availed of the services of Respicio in June three years ago, when the Italian government approved Sanatoria 2020, an amnesty program for illegal immigrants in Italy.

Saying he once worked as a "manny" or male babysitter under Respicio's employ, Natnat recounted first paying her 7,500 euros to process his application for Permesso Di Soggiorno, or resident permit in Italy.

If "patient zero" refers to the first person documented to have been infected in an outbreak, Natnat posited he may have been Respicio's and Alpha Assistenza's "victim zero" insofar as consular matters were concerned.

However, according to Respicio's former "runner" Socorro Velasquez and marketing manager Jeffrey Villalon, she had already been tagged in an airline ticket con operation as early as 2017.

In his handwritten narrative, Natnat said he started sending Respicio his contribution to the INPS, or Italy's national mandatory pension fund, amounting to 386 euros every three months.

Trust issues

According to Natnat, he once asked Respicio for the receipts of his payments, but the latter refused, telling him to find another firm to process his application if he didn't trust her.

Out of fear of not getting his residence permit, Natnat said he continued to hand Respicio staggered payments for his application, as the latter promised that his much-awaited residence permit was already on its way.

In the following months, Respicio, Natnat said, kept citing problems regarding his residence permit application, including the non-payment by his former employer of his tax obligations.

Respicio, he added, asked him to send all the documents he had and to pay his unsettled tax obligation. He sent her more money, including an additional 1,092 euros through his partner's credit card, Natnat said.

Later, he would give her an additional 1,586 euros and the 500 euro payment for his Certificato di idoneità alloggiativa, amounting to 500 euros.

"I paid her everything because she said that she needs to transfer everything to her name as my new employer, as my employer don't [sic] have enough income to declare me as his employer," Natnat said.

With the money he had already given her, Respicio finally provided him with a receipt that was, however,  backdated to 16 June 2020.

The receipt was for his payment for the F24, a  regulatory report in Italy used to pay taxes and social security to state entities.

Skeptical

"Because I don't want to have a problem with my application for Soggiorno, and I don't want to hear something from her, I kept my mouth shut," he said.

Already skeptical, Natnat said he still transferred 1,000 euros more to Respicio's account for other papers that needed to be processed.

After more than a year of paying Respicio, Natnat said no residence permit materialized while Respicio came to France where, according to Natnat, she conned two more Filipinos, Emily E. and Mayumi SP.

He said Respicio even stayed in his house in France, where he relocated and worked after being exposed as an illegal worker in Italy.

Then, in January 2023, Natnat learned from Respicio that his residence permit was ready to be approved.

"I had an appointment dated 6 February 2023, during which I was told that all of those documents Respicio gave me were fake," he said.

Fake nulla osta

A 21 September 2023 Usapang OFW show broke the Alpha 400 story with dozens of complainants, both in the Philippines and Italy, accusing Respicio and his life partner and co-Alpha Assistenza CEO Frederick Dutaro, of gypping them 3,000 to 5,000 euros to facilitate their visa applications.

The Italian Embassy in the Philippines denied the nearly 200 visa applications facilitated by Alpha for the latter's use of fake nulla osta or work permit.

Philippine Consul General to Milan Elmer Cato had denied coddling Respicio after the Filipino sponsors of the job-seekers in the Philippines accused him of sitting on their complaints.

Respicio and Dutaro, according to Villalon, was the primary sponsor of the Milan consulate's Independence Day celebration last 18 June.