The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), in partnership with the provincial government of Pangasinan, conducted a public information campaign on Monday at the Sison Auditorium here to raise awareness among financial consumers on scams and fraud.
Ma. Lourdes Manaois, research specialist of BSP Dagupan Branch, said the campaign attended by barangay officials from all the municipalities in fifth and sixth districts of Pangasinan aims to increase public consciousness on how to identify, detect and avoid common types of scams and fraud and know how the BSP can assist them.
“The participation of barangay council in this campaign is very important for they will be the partner of the BSP in spreading the important information about scams and fraud,” said Manaois.
She stressed that lawless people nowadays do not need to snatch a wallet to steal.
“They only have to mislead, swindle and victimize a person with goal of financial gain,” she added.
The BSP identified the common types of frauds and scams such text scams, credit card and ATM skimming, ponzi or pyramiding scheme, spurious investments, identity theft, phishing, spoofing, Nigerian scam, “budol-budol” scam and “dugo-dugo” scam.
Manaois said the act is probably a scam or fraud if: you have been told of winning in a lottery or a raffle that you did not join; told to act immediately or lose the opportunity; you have been selected to receive a special offer, incentive or free gift; you have been promised a high return without any risk or 100 percent guaranteed return on investment; and asked to give your personal information such as bank account, credit card numbers and passwords through email.
She advised the public to be suspicious when the institution they are transacting with is not registered or is not regulated by any regulating body, provides no written records or information of the transaction, and provides only mobile number as a contact information and testimonials for the offer that has no way of checking out.
Likewise, BSP encouraged the public to stop, think, be skeptical, always stay calm and do not be pressured into making hasty decisions if they encountered such nefarious practices.
The public information campaign on fraud and scam of the BSP Dagupan Branch covered all the barangays in all the municipalities in the first to sixth districts of Pangasinan. (MCA/EMBS/PIA-1, Pangasinan)