MANILA—The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) has asked the Anti-Transnational and Cyber Crime Division of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to investigate a fake Facebook account using a “PCSO financial assistance page” under the name of the agency.
With this, PCSO General Manager Alexander Balutan informed the public that the official website of PCSO can be accessed at www.pcso.gov.ph.
“PCSO would like to inform the public that the PCSO Financial Assistance FB page is not in any way connected to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office,” he said in a statement.
He was referring to a Facebook account carrying the name and logo of the organization that allegedly insulted a netizen who was merely inquiring about possible assistance for a colleague’s sick baby whose hospital expenses had reached Php 250,000.
According to the FB user Margauxe Bravantes, she posted her inquiry to PCSO Financial Assistance” FB account with the agency’s logo on Feb. 15, 2017.
But, instead of getting a favorable response, she was insulted and sarcastically answered by the handler of the account.
Another netizen, who was not identified, also sent a message to the said FB account, asking if the page could really help or if the page was only a hoax. The person also got a rude reply and was blocked.
The PCSO chief has confirmed that the page is fake.
At the same time, Balutan assured the public that the agency and its personnel are always ready to assist Filipinos through its various charity programs.
“The agency has now taken steps by asking the CIDG and its cybercrime unit to identify the people behind the fake website, and is also doing the necessary actions to ensure that other bogus facebook pages, social media accounts and websites using PCSO shall be dealt with accordingly,” he added.