78% of identity theft … Sources: Department of Justice, Rappler, Credit.com, Unisys, Malware Bytes, NCPC, (This article was originally posted in November 2017 and updated on June 9, 2020. The bogus raffle includes an instruction that asks for the personal details of netizens. Once a scammer has your sensitive details, they can resort to various cybercrimes. MANILA, Philippines - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has cautioned consumers against identity theft amid rising incidents of cyber attacks in the country. Many netizens who took the bait said they were in a “no work, no pay” employment status due to the pandemic. This is followed by online scam (2,970), photo and video voyeurism (1,427), computer-related identity theft (1,263), online threat (1,187), system interference or hacking (712), unjust … Most of the time, identity thieves pose as their victims by obtaining sensitive information such as names, social security numbers, identity cards, and credit card information. Facebook as the most popular social networking in the Philippines, is also the … Aside from the financial damage it can possibly cause you, having your identity stolen can also damage your reputation. Since January, VFFC has flagged 12 fake online giveaways. “So parang talon-talon na (So, it’s like it’s jumping [from one crime to another]),” Villaran said. Unemployment rate hit a peak in April, recording 17.7 percent or 7.3 million jobless Filipinos. Ragsag said a person who collects the data could use it to pretend to be another person and commit a crime. Some of these crimes go undetected for a very long time. RA 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 punishes the creation of accounts using someone else’s identity. IdentityTheft.gov is the federal government’s one-stop resource for identity theft victims. What harm can Facebook posers do to you? This modus, however, has leveled-up. Identity theft has become one of the main scourges of the modern Internet era, posing challenges for consumers and law enforcement alike. Shred bank statements and various papers that have information about you before you dispose of them. It will become online estafa or swindling if the culprit uses the stolen identity to commit fraud on people, with the goal of acquiring money from them. The Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Sentinel Network Report stated that identity theft … 4: Protecting personal data in the time of COVID-19, Policy on Government’s Social Media Use undergoes Final Consultation, DICT urges gov’t agencies to use social media to promote programs. This could have been a helpful indicator for netizens in determining the verified—thus, official—government accounts. “Magpapanggap na sila, magpagawa ng passport [using] identity nila, and then makalabas ng bansa, and then hindi natin alam ano ba sila. In February 2018, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) announced that a draft “Administrative Order (AO) on Social Media Use of the Government” was already in its last round of public consultations, which included discussions on “dealing with trolls and fake pages.”. By October, it went down to 8.7 percent—equivalent to 3.8 million unemployed individuals—which was still 1.8 million more than the same period last year. According to the 2017 Unisys Security Index, 93 percent of Filipinos are concerned about identity theft. Others use supposed private videos as means to harass their victims. 2. Beef up your password game. A Philippine News Agency article said the AO “seeks to provide [a] framework for government agencies to manage their social media accounts.” But President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to sign the order, and there has been no update about it since February 2018. The first and second are imposter scams (18%) and debt collection (16%), respectively. Are they potential terrorists)?” Ragsag said in a phone interview with VERA Files. They can use your accounts to steal your benefits and leave you paying for them. When it comes to tracing them, I believe these law enforcement agencies are more equipped to go after these people),” Ragsag said. A breach in your security online can result in the following: (Read: What Filipino Cardholders Can Learn From The Equifax Hack In The US). Last May, VERA Files Fact Check (VFFC) flagged two fake Facebook (FB) pages: one pretending to be a Social Amelioration Program (SAP) updates page, the other posing as the official “interagency” page of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). This is an asset they could later on use to earn money, either by removing all their prior posts and replacing them with promotional content, or by selling the pages to new owners who would use them in other purposes. The Revised Penal Code sets a penalty of six months and a day to four years and two months of imprisonment or a fine of P200 to P6,000, or both, for libel, aside from a possible civil lawsuit. We’ve listed a few tips on how to actively protect you and your information in the face of threats: Are you a victim of cybercrime? The top five complaints received were online scams (366), online libel (240), online threats (129), identity theft … The instances of malicious PowerShell scripts attacks went up by 1,000% in 2019. The site provides streamlined checklists and sample letters to guide you through the recovery process. 3815, s. 1930, Dec. 8, 1930, National Privacy Commission, NPC PHE BULLETIN No. Most of them were by FB pages and accounts posing as prominent personalities and businesses, such as Senator Manny Pacquiao, game show host Willie Revillame, and even the hardware and software company Hewlett Packard (HP). Just recently, social media was abuzz with the proliferation of fake Facebook accounts. Ltd. All rights reserved. The distribution of the subsidy started in April and is ongoing in some places. The DSWD and DOLE do not share a singular page on FB. Swindlers, on the other hand, could be charged with two months and a day to 20 years of prison, depending on the amount of the defrauded money. Identity theft, it has happened before, it’ll happen again. The outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) this year came not only as a challenge to medical institutions and health care systems, but also as a socioeconomic burden gravely affecting all sectors of society, especially the poorest. Villaran said identity theft could turn into online libel when a culprit hides his or her real identity by using a stolen one, and uses it to defame other people. If you’re scared of Social Security System (SSS) employees taking a salary loan using your name, then you should be equally afraid of identity thieves. Is identity theft common? While seemingly harmless, posts like these that phish personal information can actually be dangerous. All Rights Reserved. Stop yourself from oversharing on social media. Consider these identity theft statistics: In 2019, 14.4 million consumers became victims of identity fraud — that’s about 1 in 15 people Overall, 33 percent of U.S. adults have experienced identity theft … Identity theft is one of the most common outcomes from data breaches. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @ecomparemo. Find out more about this initiative and our methodology.). Each year, 7-10% of the U.S. population are victims of identity fraud and 21% of those are repeat victims. The second page easily convinced Filipino netizens to give their personal data, receiving over 3,600 comments in just two days after its spurious post was published. Ragsag said that the NPC is very much aware of the “heightened risks” of online scams during the ongoing pandemic, as posers and fraudsters are “exploiting the public fear” to get people to fall into their traps. Peter Locsin, 35, of Talisay City, Philippines, was indicted by a federal grand jury on one count of bank fraud conspiracy and two counts of aggravated identity theft. COVID-19 tally in Philippines hits 409,574 with over 1,700 new infections 32 days ago Of the total confirmed cases, 27,369 or 6.7% are still undergoing treatment or quarantine. The indictment was … New account fraud occurs when a thief opens a credit card or other financial account using a victims name and other stolen personal information. How many Americans are victims of identity theft each year? Police Major Joseph Arvin Villaran, public information officer of the PNP-ACG, said there are many other possible crimes that could root from computer-related identity theft. Avoid posting details about your personal life pertaining work, family, and relationships. ©2020 C88 Financial Technologies Pte. Refrain from using public wireless networks. In fact, it’s the biggest fear of Filipinos in terms of their security along with natural disasters. Do not click on suspicious ads as well as emails from unverified sources. The threat of identity theft is very real, and the consequences are more even more terrifying than what you think. In the Philippines, cases of these thefts are all the rage. Sila ba ay potential terrorist (They would pretend to be another person, would get a fake passport using someone else’s identity, would be able to get out of the country, and then we will never know who they are. The netizens who fell for the fake DSWD-DOLE page’s post could easily find themselves in the same situation as the teacher, since fabricating a PRC ID only requires a person’s full name, photo, and a registration number. 10. These are for your eyes only and treat them as sensitive information. Identity thieves can get your important documents without your consent. Data from the Philippine National Police - Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) obtained by VERA Files revealed that computer-related identity theft ranks third in terms of the number of cybercrime cases handled by the ACG from January to October this year. We saw in the initial statistics that credit card fraud is the form of identity theft that … Following the introduction of microchip equipped credit cards in 2015 in the United States, which make the cards difficult to counterfeit, criminals focused on new account fraud. Computer-related identity theft, as defined under Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, is the “intentional acquisition, use, misuse, transfer, possession, alteration or deletion” of a person’s identifying information. Unfortunately, as far as Ragsag knows, there are no specific guidelines set for government offices when creating their official social media accounts. Identity Theft … The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) on Saturday said it will start the second step of the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) registration nationwide on Jan. 4, 2021. In a public bulletin released on March 23, the Commission appealed to netizens to “be very careful online,” and reminded them to make “trusted government and other legitimate websites” their go-to sources of information, especially on COVID-19 related topics, in order to not fall victim to misinformation. Victims of Identity Theft, 2014 17.6 MILLION U.S. For now, he encourages each government agency to “look at their own security measures” and inform the public of their official pages and accounts—something that the NPC is already doing, according to Ragsag. ABS-CBN News Updated as of Nov 02 08:26 AM. The Philippine Statistics Authority attributed April’s record unemployment to the “COVID-19 economic shutdown,” after community lockdowns were imposed across cities and municipalities in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus. As for the tracing and arrest of individuals or groups behind the fake FB pages, he said apprehending them will need a “whole of government approach” that would involve the PNP, the National Bureau of Investigation, and the Department of Justice. 10175, Sept. 12, 2012, Australian Cyber Security Centre, Like farming, March 6, 2020, Better Business Bureau, BBB Tip: Like-Farming is a Facebook scam still going strong, June 10, 2020, Macmillan Dictionary, Like-farming, May 7, 2018, GMA News Online, Public school teacher in debt because of identity theft, Feb. 26, 2016, The Official Gazette Act No. 31.7% of breach victims in 2016 later experienced identity fraud, compared to just 2.8% of individuals not notified of a data breach in 2016, according to Javelin.. SEN. Maria Imelda Josefa “Imee” Marcos wants the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to explain how a foreign firm hounded … collecting comprehensive statistics on identity theft, but that, “Nonetheless a number of data sources can be used as proxies for gauging the prevalence of identity theft” (GAO, February 2002, p. 2). MANILA— A woman whose photos were featured on a “sugar daddy” dating site has come forward to report that her images were used without her consent, and that she was never a member of the platform that has seen a rise in sign-ups in the Philippines. In a nutshell, stolen identities pertains to the intentional use of one’s personal details, usually for monetary gain or criminal activities at the expense of the victim. Another described herself as a solo parent with a child suffering from a heart condition, while a third one said he is an overseas Filipino worker “stranded” for five months in an accommodation in Pasay City and has not received any form of assistance. Report lost or stolen IDs and banking cards like ATM and credit cards. In other words, identity theft. Poseurs can use your fake Facebook account to extort money from your contacts or engage in malicious activities that may implicate you. $2 Billion Is Lost Via Credit Card Fraud Each Year: The Federal Trade Commission’s annual Consumer Sentinel Network report gives citizens a snapshot of problems consumers experience in the marketplace. Don’t be surprised if, in the future, an artificial intelligence can create a simulacrum of us a la Black Mirror. “'Yung whole of government na approach na po ang ating kakailanganin. Scammers saw an opportunity to take advantage of this government response to the pandemic. 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