Police Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog, the director of the Cebu City Police Office. | CDN Digital photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Aside from ATM scams and budol-budol, Cebu City police have also alerted the public against individuals who pose as police officers to scam their victims and steal their personal information.
Police Colonel Ireneo Dalogdog, chief of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), released a firm warning on Sunday, November 13, after they received information on social media that someone is using the name of their office, Camp Sotero Cabahug, to scam.
In a post circulating on social media, a female victim said she received a call from a government agency informing her that she was blacklisted due to an alleged package that contained illegal documents. The caller reportedly advised the victim to report this to the police in Cebu and file a blotter report for the said transaction.
A few minutes later, she reportedly received a call from a woman claiming to be a member of the Philippine National Police in Cebu. The said caller asked if they could conference through Skype after she said that she could not go to Cebu to file a blotter report in person.
During their Skype meeting, the victim said she had a glimpse of the woman wearing a “police uniform.” The woman also claimed that she was talking to her from the headquarters of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) located at Camp Sotero Cabahug.
The still unidentified “scammer” allegedly asked the victim to narrate the incident relating to the package while she recorded everything on video. She was told that the video would already serve as her video complaint.
After their talk, the victim provided the scammer with copies of her driver’s license, including her personal data.
She was surprised to learn the next day that a withdrawal of P29, 700 was about to be made from her bank account. She received notification from her bank to verify the online that she reportedly made.
But, the money was not released after she informed her bank that she did not make her withdrawal.
Dalogdog said they are now trying to investigate the incident.
But while they try to identify the alleged culprits, Dalogdog is asking the public to verify the identity of persons that they are dealing with and not to give their data to anyone.
Dalogdog is also asking the public not to click links that are sent through text messages or online chat as hackers and scammers are becoming techy these days. He said that curiosity could put anyone in danger because this could lead to stealing of personal information.
DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK. Policemen in Cebu City advise the public to not click links like this as this is a scam and scammer’s way to get details from their victims.
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