PNP warns public against spam texts

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Dionardo Carlos. Senate PRIB file photo / Bibo Nueva España

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Wednesday warned the public against rampant spam messages offering job opportunities and Christmas perks to lure victims to provide their sensitive information.

According to the PNP, this scheme intends to lure a victim to click on a link and subsequently redirect the user to a messaging application where their personal and sensitive information will be collected.

“Most victims fall prey to these traps when being offered jobs such as processing online orders for a shopping app. Scammers pretend to be connected with well-established companies who shall process the job application,” PNP Chief Dionardo Carlos said in a statement.

To counter this, Carlos told the public to check the background of the company before disclosing anything to the party involved.

He also implored to ignore messages from anonymous senders and to not give vital information without verifying the legitimacy of the transaction.

“Once you fail to red flag this attempt, you are [a] vulnerable candidate for Identity Theft,” Carlos added.

This warning came in response to the surge of spam messages advertising fake jobs to the public regardless of what telecommunications company they are subscribed to.

The privacy commission has already started investigating the incident, forming a task force to curb smishing and text spams.

An official of the said commission, meanwhile, earlier claimed that international syndicates orchestrated the scam.

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