Money lost via online scams may never be recovered – DOJ

PHOTO/NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines—In addition to being cautious before clicking, remember that money lost through online scams may never be recovered.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said the Department of Justice’s Office of Cybercrime can conduct an initial (open-source investigation) into online scams.

“Thereafter, we refer to the NBI Cybercrime Division for further investigation and case building,” Guevarra said.

However, with regards to stolen money via bank transfers, he said: “The only information we have is that banks do not give back the money taken/lost because, on their system, it was a valid transaction.”

“Almost always the case is that the client victimized was negligent when he/she gave the One Time Password (OTP) to the fraudster,” he added.

Banks are already sending text messages to clients warning them about SIM card swapping disguised as bank promo and reminding them not to disclose the one-time password (OTP), PIN, and Card Verification Value (CVV).

Earlier, the DOJ warned the public against the deluge of messages about job offers with a link that they have to click to apply.

“Fraudulent job posting will either ask the applicant to pay for application or training fees or promise high wages. It would also require the applicant to answer an extensive personal information questionnaire that would then be used by the scammers to commit identity theft,” the DOJ-OCC said.

This kind of scam is called smishing where the victims are deceived to give their personal data. Other forms of scam are phishing which is done by sending emails to the intended victims and leading them to a fake website where they will input personal information. Another is vishing which is done through phone calls.

Malacañang earlier said the proliferation of fake SMS job offers is a cause of concern as it violates citizens’ privacy.

Cabinet Secretary and acting spokesperson Karlo Nograles earlier said the National Telecommunications Commission is already investigating the matter.

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