Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 31) — The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) warns the public of online scams that emerge during the holidays when syndicates take advantage of travelers.
“We want the public to be more vigilant against various online scam activities, especially when we are out of our homes,” CICC Executive Director Undersecretary Alexander Ramos said in a statement Tuesday.
1. Caution against public wi-fi networks
While public wi-fi networks provide convenience on the go, the CICC warned that these networks can put any device at risk. Due to its lack of security, an open and unsecure wi-fi may be compromised by hackers who would embed viruses and malware to connected devices.
Through a public wi-fi connection, hackers could access personal information and use it to control the devices and steal identities as well as money, according to the CICC, an attached agency of the Department Of Information And Communications Technology.
“An attacker will intercept the communication flow between your handsets and browser and steal information and potentially allowing your device to be hijacked,” Ramos said.
2. Fake e-wallet apps
The CICC said fake e-wallet apps, or apps that look like legitimate e-wallet apps, created by scammers are widespread.
Users may input their real e-wallet credentials to these fake apps, unknowingly providing scammers their information and use it to access their e-wallet accounts.
\”Scammers can access your real e-wallet credentials if you download and install a fake e-wallet app. The public must download e-wallet from legitimate app stores,\” the CICC said.
3. Tech support scams
Also rampant are scammers posing as tech support agents of banks, e-wallets, and e-commerce sites among others, according to the CICC.
They would call users and claim that there is a problem with their account, forcing them to provide their personal information in order to fix the supposed problem.
\”Ignore calls from numbers you don’t know, [especially] scammers calling you and claiming to be from your e-wallet provider,\” said Ramos.
4. Phishing
Expect more phishing emails and messages that appear to be from legitimate companies, said the CICC.
These questionable emails and messages usually contain links to fake websites that look like actual company websites, which could compromise personal data.
“Never click links from unknown emails or text messages because these are phishing scams that can lead to account takeover by stealing personal information, account name, and passwords. Worse, many may also include malware,” Ramos warned.
5. Bogus online shops
As Christmas nears, fake online shops selling counterfeit products are increasing, according to the CICC.
“Never believe too-good-to-be-true sales offers. If the product is too cheap then it must be fake or worse, it does not exist,\” the CICC said. \”Always check the legitimacy of the seller and never transact outside the e-commerce site.\”
Incidents of online scams can be reported to the CICC, the Inter-Agency Response Center (I-ARC), or Scam Watch Philippines.
– I-ARC Hotline: 1326 OR 0947-714-7105 (SMART), 0966-976-5971 (Globe), and 0991-481-4225 (DITO)
– CICC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CICCgovph
