BSP warns OFWs vs new 'livelihood' text scam

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines' central monetary authority issued another warning on Wednesday to unsuspecting overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who receive text messages announcing that they supposedly won millions of pesos in a government-sponsored raffle.

"The most common and recent permutation of the scam is the so-called ‘Handog Pangkabuhayan’ supposedly a project of the PGMA [President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo] foundation and the BSP [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas]," said BSP public affairs director Fe de la Cruz.

Text scammers tell unwitting mobile phone users that they supposedly won the raffle with prize awards ranging from P500,000 up to P2 million.

"The scammers usually ask their victims to call a particular number at which point they are either given a bank account number where they are supposed to deposit money," De la Cruz said.

Victims that complained to the BSP said they were asked to deposit money as payment for the withholding tax on the prize money or as transfer fee.

De la Cruz said there were even schemes that tell unsuspecting mobile phone users that they must send a certain amount of prepaid card load to specific phone numbers before they could claim their prize money.

"If anyone tells you that you won something but you have to give money first, don’t believe it," De la Cruz said.

More recently, De la Cruz said the text scammers have even started including fictitious contest and promotions registration numbers supposedly from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Board of Investments (BOI).

"The really clever ones make it look as official as possible and sometimes even telephone numbers of BSP governor Amando M. Tetangco. Unfortunately, we have to keep telling them that there is no such thing," she said.

De la Cruz said the BSP has launched a permanent campaign and alert level against text and email scams that misrepresent the BSP and other agencies of the government.

Previous investigations have led to successful prosecution in the past, with the help of the Anti Money Laundering Council (AMLC), especially when specific bank accounts were involved.

According to De la Cruz, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) could block the mobile phone numbers and the AMLC is assisted by police authorities in the investigation.

The BSP explained that text scams normally build up during enrollment and Christmas seasons, purporting to call winners of fictitious government-sponsored raffles and contests.
- GMANews.TV

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PCG: China’s bullying in West Philippine Sea undermines international law --- Ghio Ong - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — Letting China sustain its aggression in the West Philippine Sea would make other countries doubt the strength of international law currently being asserted by the Philippines, Commodore Jay Tarriela of the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said. “Allowing China to blatantly disregard the established rules-based order threatens the very foundation that we all depend on,” he wrote in a post on X last Tuesday. He added, “If we permit this, countries worldwide may forget why this order was created in the first place. Nations could begin to doubt the significance of adhering to international law if powerful bullies can easily violate it.” Tarriela also said defiance of other countries to a rules-based order would result in the prevalence of cruelty. He wrote, “This could lead us back to a time when might makes right, undermining the global structures that keep human greed, savagery and barbarism in check. Such a scenario would not only invite challenges from aggressive ...
Read more

China ships maintain presence in key West Philippine Sea areas --- Michael Punongbayan - The Philippine Star

STAR / Michael Varcas MANILA, Philippines — While Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) have decreased in number, they have maintained a presence in three key land features where naval and coast guard ships have intensified operations in the past seven days, according to the Philippine Navy. Latest monitoring by the Philippine Navy showed armed ships of the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) maintaining a menacing presence around the grounded BRP Sierra Madre in Ayungin Shoal, Panatag Shoal and Escoda Shoal. According to the Philippine Navy, there are 17 Chinese military vessels and 28 China Coast Guard (CCG) boats spotted inside the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) between Sept. 23 and 30, or one vessel more than in the previous week Sept.17-23. Five of the warships were seen roaming around the vicinity of Escoda Shoal, along with 10 CCG vessels and 12 maritime militia vessels (MMVs). There are also two PLAN ships in Ayungin Shoal as well as 10 CCG boats and 12...
Read more

Social media seen as cause of rising intermarriages --- Helen Flores - The Philippine Star

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) sees social media as the main reason for the rising number of Filipinos marrying or becoming partners of foreign nationals. In 2022, the CFO recorded 6,854 marriages or partnerships with foreign nationals, a 40.1 percent increase from the 4,891 “intermarriages” recorded in 2021. “First of all, what we see in the increase in the marriage rate of Filipinos or Filipinos with foreign partners is because of social media, (that) is number one; matchings; letters, introduction of their friends,” CFO chairperson Romulo Arugay said at the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday. Arugay said the agency has been registering a high number of intermarriages since 2007, but the figures went down during the COVID-19 pandemic. From over 6,500 Filipinos who married foreign nationals, only 600 are men, he said. Most of them are married to Americans, Japanese, Germans, Canadians and Australians, Arugay said. Arugay warned Fi...
Read more