The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) cautioned the public on Friday, April 5, about websites that have been recruiting individuals with a background in the government and military.

In an interview with DZBB, DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy said there are websites “registered under Chinese companies” that were recruiting individuals with bachelor’s degrees, particularly those with military backgrounds.

"When you check, they came from a Western organization, but when you look at it—there's a facility on the internet called 'WHOIS' to see who registered the domain names, you'll see, they're registered with Chinese companies," Dy said in a mix of English and Filipino.

With the presence of these websites, the undersecretary advised “military personnel to also be cautious and aware of the possibility of being dazzled into applying.”

One of those websites has now been exposed on Facebook after Manila Bulletin Senior Technology Officer and Scam Watch Pilipinas, the national citizen arm of the Philippine government dedicated to educating Filipinos about cyber fraud, co-founder Art Samaniego raised public awareness regarding the websites.

However, Dy reiterated that “the targets of this are not active personnel because that's not allowed. They target those with experience, so retired or those who have left military service.”

In a press briefing on April 4, DICT Assistant Secretary Renato Paraiso explained the role of the agency on this matter.

“We contacted the security sectors of our government, including various agencies responsible for our security sector, including the policy-making bodies,” Paraiso said.

Given that the websites are recruiting personnel with military backgrounds, DICT noted that "it is not a DICT concern, but DICT participated in reporting these incidents."