DOJ cybercrime office cautions subscribers vs. text scams

MANILA – The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Wednesday cautioned the public against spurious job offers sent through text messages during the holiday season.

“The Department of Justice – Office of Cybercrime would like to remind everyone to remain cyber safe for happy holidays. Be cautious before taking up an opportunity to work offered by unknown SMS (short messaging system) senders,” the agency said in a statement.

A fraudulent job posting will either ask the applicant to pay for application or training fees or promise high wages.

It would also require the applicant to answer an extensive personal information questionnaire that would then be used by the scammers to commit identity theft, the DOJ cautioned.

It also urged the public to be vigilant and conscientious with online dealings and not to click unverified links and do not give away personal information easily.

Earlier this week, the National Privacy Commission (NPC) summoned data protection officers of telecommunication companies, online shopping platforms, and some banks to report on their spam prevention measures and further steps to combat the recent surge of scam texts that have been soliciting and misusing personal information.

This came after some netizens expressed concern over getting spam text messages, a scheme known as ‘smishing’.

NPC Commissioner Raymund Liboro ruled out contact tracing forms used by establishments as the cause of the smishing activities and pointed a global syndicate as behind the scheme.

Liboro also reminded subscribers to remain vigilant and refrain from opening suspicious links.