PCSO: Beware of online scams

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) advised the public to beware of online scams amid the proliferation of fake online accounts bearing the agency’s name and logo.

According to PCSO general manager Alexander Balutan, the agency received reports that unscrupulous individuals on social media try deceive people by using the agency’s name, logo and lottery products.

“These fake accounts are not new, anyway. Pero mag-ingat po lagi tayo para hindi tayo mabiktima ng mga manggagantso (But we still have to take caution so that we will not be victimized by scammers),” he said.

The agency revealed that one account on social media showed the logo of PCSO and announcing that the agency will give away a house and lot to a lucky winner.

Based on fake account’s post, the winner will be selected from those who followed instructions on the social media page as their entry.

Among the instructions is to “like and share” the page, an apparent ploy to increase the audience share of the page, Balutan said.

Currently, the page has more than 34,000 likes.

“However, if you look into the date they will be announcing the winner, it is April 1, which incidentally is April fool’s day,” the general manager said.

“We still don't know if the owners of the site just want likes or will they be requesting for the supposed winner to give them some money to facilitate the turning over of the price similar to the Nigerian scams using the email to scam people years ago,” the said.