Police Lt. Peter Rios, Deputy Chief of Police of Odiongan Municipal Police Station, issued a warning against GCash scams during the LGU Odiongan’s Usapang Serbisyo Publiko program with Mayor Trina Firmalo-Fabic.
“Most of the victims of these scams are GCash users. They pretend to be your relatives and read your previous messages to you, then they copy them. If you don’t confirm it, you will really be scammed because you think it’s legit,” Rios explained.
“Especially if the amount involved is not trivial and is really substantial. Recently, we had a victim come to us who lost around P12,000 due to a scam,” he added.
Lt. Rios advised the public to be cautious and skeptical when asked for personal details.
“If they are asking for your important details, don’t give them away easily and immediately suspect that it’s a scam to avoid becoming a victim,” he urged.
Additionally, he warned about text message scams claiming that recipients have won large sums of money but require them to load certain amounts to claim the prize.
“There are also scams where they text you saying you’ve won a large amount but before you can claim it, you need to load them, for example, P1,000 or P3,000. If there is such a condition, it’s a scam and you should already be suspicious,” Rios added.
The local police emphasized the importance of verifying the legitimacy of messages and calls to avoid falling victim to these fraudulent schemes.
