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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider BI warns public vs online scams

BI warns public vs online scams

Published Mar 7, 2024 07:53 am

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Thursday, March 7, warned the public against receiving and entertaining emails and social media messages claiming to be from the agency.

Commissioner Norman Tansingco said his office has received several reports on “email accounts and social media pages extorting unknowing people in the guise of being official pages of the BI.”

Tansingco said "the reports have been forwarded to the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) for investigation.”

He cited that last February he received information about an email address sending invoices that requested “P25,000 for a supposed package from Japan that was being held for release.”

He said he also got a similar complaint “extorting the victims P3,000 for the release of a package from Syria.”

“In another complaint reported to us, a victim was being asked P20,000 for the release of luggage being held at the airport,” he also said.

He pointed out that "the BI is not in any way connected to the release of parcels or cargoes.”

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