Ahong warns constituents of voice phishing scam

LAPU-LAPU City Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan has warned his constituents of a scammer who passed himself/herself off as a member of the mayor’s staff, telling would-be victims that he/she would facilitate the delivery of prizes they won from the mayor’s online contest.

This is a case of voice phishing or vishing—the term for fraudulent phone calls to dupe people into revealing personal data and bank account information or trick people into giving money. The scammers pretend to work for legitimate private companies or government offices.

In his Facebook post on Sunday, May 15, 2022, Chan advised Oponganons not to believe the person using the mobile number 09364327234.

“Ilang sulti nakadaog daw mo sa akong pa-premyo online pero para imo kining makuha, kinahanglan nga mohatag ka sa OTP (One Time Password) sa imong GCash account,” Chan said, adding that this is not true and is a big scam.

(They will tell you that you won prizes online but before you could receive them, you must give the OTP of your GCash account.)

According to Chan, the scammer will only use the OTP to get access to the account of the e-wallet GCash and steal the money of the account holder.

He said he has not conducted an online contest.

Chan further urged his constituents to refrain from entertaining the scammer, adding that he already reported the mobile number to the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.