By Jeffrey Damicog
The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Saturday, May 30, revealed the number of internet-related crimes have doubled during this quarantine period.
“Dumoble po yung bilang ng ating cyber, computer-related fraud cases (the number of cyber, computer-related fraud cases have doubled),” said NBI Cyber Crime Division (NBI-CCD) Executive Officer Atty. Michelle Valdez disclosed during the Laging Handa media briefing.
“Dumoble rin po ngayong panahon ng pandemic the continuous proliferation, ito po yung pagpapakalat ng maling balita kaugnayan po ng COVID pandemic na nagko-cause ng chaos or ng confusion among the public or Filipino citizens (The number of fake news have also doubled this pandemic which have caused chaos or confusion among the public),” she added.
With this, Valdez advised that the public be careful and not fall prey to cyber fraud.
“Think before you click. Lahat po ng dealings online pag-isipan nating mabuti bago tayo mag-click (We should think carefully about our every online dealings before we click),” she stated.
The online fraud she cited include phishing attacks, shopping scams, and donation scams.
Valdez lamented cybercriminals have been taking advantage of individuals who have been forced to stay home and conduct online transactions.
“Nabibiktima po ating mga kababayan by giving their personal details, their bank details, and other personal details wherein dito na po pumapasok yung mga unauthorized transactions (Our citizens get victimized by giving away their bank details and personal details which have been used by criminals in unauthorized transactions),” she explained about phishing cases.
Valdes there is also the proliferation of “bogus sellers or fraudsters wherein nagbebenta po sila ng items na hindi naman talaga existing (there is also a proliferation of bogus sellers or fraudsters who sell bogus and non-existent items).”
“Other than that meron po tayo donation scams wherein they invite the public to donate PPEs and other items para sa ating frontliners (there are also donation scams wherein the public have been invited to donate personal protective equipment and other items for frontliners),” she also cited.
“But then hindi po pala sila legitimate or authorized entity to distribute these items (But they have been found not to be legitimate or authorized entity to distribute these items),” she explained.