'Christmas Giveaway' text scam once again in season

MANILA, Philippines — Unscrupulous individuals will always find creative ways to make their scams more plausible and timely, and sadly, the Christmas season is no exception.

In many areas of the metropolis, countless people have received bogus "text advisories" informing them that they are qualified to receive cash handouts or giveaways, provided that they follow a set of instructions. Regardless of what these instructions may entail, these are all part of a social engineering process that scammers will eventually exploit.

"Even the simple act of replying to these messages already confirms to the scammer that your number is active," warned PR and Communications expert Benjamin Joseph David.

"Depending on the directives of the text messages, they will either coerce you to give out sensitive information, or worse, physically draw you out to a location where you can potentially be robbed," he further noted.

The upcoming elections have likewise repurposed these text scams into tools for black propaganda. "Political camps frequently use text blast machines to spread fake news about cash handouts being given by their opponents, in an attempt to create confusion or sow anger against them," David explained.

"Thankfully, however, the public has become more wary about blind SMS or text messages used in this manner, and often recognize it for the dirty tactic that it is," he added.

In Quezon City, many residents received a text message informing them that the City Treasurer's Office in Quezon City Hall was giving away P1,500 to anyone who went to their office within the day.

The local government quickly issued a warning against this claim, and condemned the intentions of those who perpetrated the deception.

"I don't think it takes much speculation to guess the identity of the individuals behind this cruel scheme," said QC Legal Head Atty. Niño Casimiro.

"It is obvious that they wanted to play on people's emotions and exploit their needs to create a chaotic scene in QC City Hall. If that happened, you can almost imagine them laughing and giving themselves high-fives while the people they fooled suffered. It's a good thing their plan did not work," Casimiro concluded.