Phone scams are becoming more and more common these days, especially ones where scammers call you to claim that you or someone you know is part of a drug ring. These people are taking advantage of the country’s current climate, and it’s pretty reprehensible.
On Aug. 6, a netizen posted about one such scam.
The netizen writes that his friend received an automated voice call purportedly from the Philippine National Police. The call claimed that his friend was implicated in illegal drug cases. The netizen adds that apparently, if you continue engaging with the call, you’re redirected to a person asking for sensitive information and grilling you about drugs.
Two things make this case stand apart. It’s relatively sophisticated compared to other illegal drugs-related phone scams, since those usually involve brutish scammers screaming you down and cursing. This resembles a phishing scam more, since the scammers are pretending to be part of a trustworthy agency. With phishing scams, the goal is to fool the mark into giving sensitive information that the scammers can take advantage of. In this case, it’s your credit card info and SSS number, really important info that you shouldn’t be giving out to anyone.
But the more chilling thing about this case is the fact that the number was traced back to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Office. Not only that, but to a board member of the BSP. At that level, only two conclusions can be gained: either there’s a crazy conspiracy going on with the BSP (the netizen did wonder if the bank is now somehow an arm of the drug war), or their security system is so awful that scammers were able to compromise the actual numbers of their high ranking officers. It’s far from a good look either ways.
So far, we can’t say for sure what exactly is going on. We can only caution you all to always be on alert, especially when you’re receiving a call from an unknown number. Never give out personal information that can be used against you.
Featured photo courtesy of Unsplash
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Writer: ZOFIYA ACOSTA
