DepEd tells teachers with banking issues: Inform LandBank, division offices
MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education (DepEd) has called on teachers who may have lost money due to supposed banking issues to inform division offices and the Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) so that their concerns would be addressed.
According to a DepEd statement on Monday, the department only knew about the issue after reading online articles about the issue raised by the Teachers’ Dignity Coalition (TDC), which said that some teachers lost around P26,000 to P121,000 from their payroll accounts with the said bank.
DepEd said LandBank has already reached out to DepEd to assure that the issue of unauthorized withdrawals are “given utmost attention.”
“LandBank has already reached out to DepEd and assured that cases on unauthorized withdrawals are properly handled and given utmost attention,” DepEd said.
“DepEd enjoins all of its personnel to immediately inform their respective Divisions, and report any issues to their nearest LandBank branch,” it added.
Earlier, one of the victims said he received a one-time password verification 13 times last November 12, 2021, and he reported these incidents to a Landbank branch. But on the next day, he found out that P121,000 had been taken from his Landbank account, and then transferred to a digital wallet account.
Another teacher lost around P84,815 on December 30, after the money was also transferred to an electronic wallet account, and another bank account. TDC believes LandBank should also be held accountable for the loss of funds.
READ: Some teachers lose P26K to P121K each in alleged bank hacking — group
But LandBank has maintained that their systems are safe and secure despite such reports, saying their initial investigation showed that the teachers’ device and their personal information were compromised due to phishing, or schemes where hackers pose as if they are legitimate banking representatives to obtain confidential details about bank accounts.
LandBank also reminded customers that their official representatives would not ask for confidential details about the bank account.
“The Bank also advises the public to remain vigilant against phishing scams and all other forms of online banking fraud. Landbank reminds its customers to refrain from opening suspicious emails, links and attachments, and sharing your account and personal information. Official Landbank representatives will never ask for the critical financial information of customers,” it stressed.
“To report fraudulent activities, Landbank customers may contact their respective handling Branch or the Landbank’s Customer Care Hotline through (02) 8-405-7000 or 1-800-10-405-7000, or via email at [email protected],” it added.
READ: LandBank: All systems are secured; teachers’ accounts hacked via phishing
DepEd said they are validating such reports with the field offices.
“While the DepEd Central Office has not received any formal incident reports yet, it is currently validating these claims with its field offices,” it assured the teachers.
