Cebu City EOC warns: Beware of fake contact tracers

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu City Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is warning residents of fake contact tracers who may seek to extort money from them.

EOC czar Councilor Joel Garganera said no reports of fake contact tracers have reached them so far, but the Department of Health (DOH) has issued an advisory over the matter to make sure.

The DOH said it has no contact tracing teams as contact tracers are formed by the local government units (LGUs) in coordination with the police.

Fake contact tracers may try to get personal information and extort money out of the households they target.

Garganera said in Cebu City, the contact tracing teams would include a police and city or barangay health workers, and the subject of the contact tracers would know that the team is coming because the house, compound, or sitio would be locked down ahead of time.

The barangay would also assist the contact tracers and the subject residents in the process, an additional assurance that the contact tracing is legitimate.

The contact tracers would properly introduce themselves to the households and they should be wearing appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) and would also be wearing identification cards (IDs).

It would be rare that the contact tracer would call a resident and ask for personal information, and they would not be asking money from the resident as well.

The councilor urged the residents that if someone calls or visits claiming to be a contact tracer, they must immediately inform the barangay.

“The best way to know that they are legitimate is if there is an actual positive case in your area. If there is no known positive case in the area and no coordination from the barangay, then they might be fake contact tracers,” said Garganera.

The councilor assured that the contact tracers in the city, about 105 teams deployed in the various barangays, are trained to handle the tracing process safely and securely. /bmjo