CYBERCRIME ADVISORY: CRYPTO SCAMMERS SIPHONING OFF MILLIONS OF XMAS BONUSES

Public advised to invest only in BSP supervised digital currency

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) is warning the public against the surge of cryptocurrency investment scams if they do not want their Christmas and year-end bonuses to disappear into thin air.

CICC Executive Director Alexander K. Ramos said that banks have noticed a number of their depositors loosing millions in the past few days to cryptocurrency scams but have been refusing to report to authorities.

“We have already warned the public as early as November about the surge in cryptocurrency scams and now it is becoming worse because scammers are taking advantage of the Christmas and year-end bonuses of the people,” he said.

Cryptocurrency has become popular investment instrument recently because of the surge in value. The price of bitcoin which was $500 in May 2016 has skyrocketed to $93,730 as of December 24.

CICC had issued a cybercrime warning in November alerting the public of cryptocurrency scammers enticing victims to pay in dollars in a foreign account.

Ramos said that scammers have changed their modus operandi this time by opening digital accounts which easily disappear as soon as investors have deposited between P100,000 to more than a million.

Bankers have been very concerned about this development because their depositors have been directly transferring funds from local bank accounts to this fly-by-night digital accounts.

“We are advising the public to think first before they invest on anything. They should make sure that these digital currency accounts where they will be transferring their funds are supervised by the BSP,” Ramos emphasized.

Scammers this time are also believed to be locally-based who are taking advantage of the fat bonuses of employees during the Christmas season.

Ramos reminded the public to do research about any form of investment before putting their money on it.
“Check with government regulatory agencies if such companies have the license to do business before investing. Remember no investment is risk free,” he said.

Victims of investment scams are advised to call the Inter-Agency Response Center (IARC) hotline 1326 which is toll-free and operates round-the-clock from Mondays to Sundays including these coming Christmas and New Year holidays.