Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 30) — The National Bureau of Investigation has been receiving a lot of reports related to cybercrimes during the coronavirus pandemic, it said during a Laging Handa virtual briefing on Saturday.
“Madami na po tayong nare-receive na (We have been receiving a lot of) reports on online frauds or any other cyber-related crime related to the COVID pandemic,” said Atty. Michelle Valdez, executive officer of the NBI Cybercrime Division, adding that the number of such reports has doubled.
Among the reported cases are phishing attacks, said Valdez. Phishing involves criminals luring individuals to disclose sensitive personal information such as bank account details while disguised as legitimate entities.
“These cybercriminals take advantage of the situation of our citizens na nasa loob lang po tayo ng bahay (since we’re just inside our homes), we take hold of our computers and cellphones para po sa ating mga (for our) daily transactions,” she said.
Online shopping scams are also part of the cyber-related crimes reported to the agency as not a lot of people can freely exit their homes to buy goods personally, Valdez explained.
Such cases usually involve people paying for items that don’t really exist, she added. Others involve the goods never getting delivered to the buyer despite having paid for them.
“Other than that, meron po tayong mga (we also have) donation scams wherein they invite the public to donate PPEs and other items para sa ating mga (for our) frontliners but then hindi po pala sila (they are not a) legitimate or authorized entity to distribute these items,” said the NBI official.
As a result, the cash donations end up going to someone else instead of the supposed recipients, added Valdez.
Valdez also mentioned that the NBI has seen a jump in cases of online child sexual exploitation amid the pandemic, an observation it shared with the Department of Justice in the same briefing.
READ: DOJ probes rise in sexual exploitation cases during lockdown
The proliferation of fake news had also doubled, she mentioned, adding that such content features wrong information related to the COVID-19 pandemic, which causes chaos or confusion among the public.
Fighting cyber-related crimes
Among the ways the agency is fighting crimes in cyberspace is the establishment of an awareness campaign for the public.
“Bukod po sa concerted efforts po with other agencies like the DTI and other remittance centers, financial institutions, mayroon po kaming mga projects like awareness campaign para po educated ang ating mga citizens in using responsibly the Internet or ating—yes, Internet or other social media platforms,” said Valdez.
[Translation: Aside from concerted efforts with other agencies like the DTI and other remittance centers, financial institutions, we also have projects like (our) awareness campaign so that our citizens get educated in using responsibly the Internet or other social media platforms.]
She also asked the public to be vigilant in conducting transactions online.
“Lahat po ng billings natin online, pag-isipan po nating mabuti bago tayo mag-click. We have to check it twice or thrice or even more than that. Iyong mga websites na pinapasok natin, make sure na iyong URL natin is with an extension of https, which is a secure Internet extension tapos po i-verify din po natin lahat ng mga nakakausap natin online,” Valdez explained.
[Translation: Let us think thoroughly before clicking anything when we’re (settling) our billings online. Let us make sure that the URL of the websites we’re visiting is with an extension of https, which is a secure Internet extension, then let’s verify as well everyone we talk to online.]
She said verification may be done through the Internet or by calling the NBI hotline to check whether the concerned online sellers are legitimate or not.
