DOH Bicol asks contacts to report ‘unofficial’ messages sent by its official email account

LEGAZPI CITY –– The Department of Health (DOH) in Bicol has urged contacts, who received “unofficial” messages from their email account, to report such matters to them.

In an advisory dated Thursday, the DOH said they have started conducting security measures after the incident.

“The Records Section of DOH Center for Health Development Bicol noticed unofficial emails sent by the official email account, [email protected],” according to the agency.

DOH Bicol did not specify how many emails were sent to contacts, but a source told The Inquirer they were observing if the unwanted activity persists.

“Measures were made by our IT Unit to secure the said account including virus scanning, update of Windows, and changing of password (among other measures),” DOH Bicol said.

The source said that at least 10 have reported receiving the unofficial emails.

A screenshot of the email obtained by The Inquirer read: “Good morning, Attached to this mail is our order for June, Please do the needful and send us the pi. so that we can start in time to prepare 50% payment as the lock-down is lifted. Note: Order no. 5 is needed in a large quantity. please give us a reasonable discount.”

A source from DOH, who asked not to be named, said that other emails were written in different styles.

“There are other styles, but they are not from DOH. They look like proposals from legitimate contacts, but the letters are similar,” she said. “I have not been opening the emails because they look suspicious.”

DOH Bicol said contacts, who received such emails from their official account, may report the messages to their official social media account or to their other email address [email protected].

LZB