Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the heads of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday, Feb. 6, warned Filipinos against the dangers of love scams on the internet.

During a Palace press briefing, PNP chief General Benjamin Acorda Jr. admitted that “it’s not a remote possibility” that scammers would take advantage of Valentine’s Day.

“Magba-valentine na, medyo pag-ingatan lang po natin. Iyong hindi natin kilala, pag-ingatan po natin nang husto (You are right, it’s almost Valentine’s, let us be careful. If we don’t know the person, let’s take care),” Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. also said.

He explained that scammers usually look at the “profile” of their victims, and choose those who are sad, alone, love sick, widowed, and even those who lost their loved ones.

Scammers would study what kind of music their victims want, as well as what food they eat, the DILG chief added.

“Tapos papasukan ka nito as if kilalang kilala ka. Kung hindi ka man kakilala, iyon para bang sabihin niya, 'naku, pareho pala tayong mahilig sa ganito,' iyon pla napag-aralan ka na. Ganoon lang iyon (Then, they will talk to you as if they know you. They will say that you have similar tastes. The truth is they already profiled you. It’s like that),” Abalos said.

The official lamented that romance scams sometimes top cybercrimes right now, although Acorda clarified that swindling or estafa is still number one with 15,000 cases; illegal access, 4,000; identity theft, 2,000; online libel, 2,000; and credit card fraud, 2,000.

And while the PNP chief admitted they are having problems identifying perpetrators of the love scam because the accounts used are fictitious, he credited the SIM registration law for helping them.

“But again as I said, because of SIM card registration, malaking bagay na tulong sa atin ‘yan (it’s a big help to us),” he said.

Noting that most of the scams are localized, Acorda shared that the PNP has been working with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in investigating reports that pre-registered SIM cards are being sold.

“So malaking bagay po talaga (So, it’s really a big thing) when it comes to the establishing the identities of these perpetrators sa (in) online… though the SIM card identification, medyo nati-trace natin – nakakatulong sa pag-trace natin sa mga identities ng mga scammers (we can trace — it helps in tracing the identities of the scammers),” he added.