POEA Warns Public on Online Identity Theft, Cyber Cloning, and Other Internet Related Scams

June 23, 2020POEA ADVISORY NO. 84-20POEA WARNS PUBLIC ON ONLINE IDENTITY THEFT, CYBER CLONING, AND OTHER INTERNET RELATED SCAMSThe Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has noticed a sharp rise in cases of online scams during the ongoing COVID-19 community quarantine. Unscrupulous individuals have been taking advantage of people's increased online presence to victimize unsuspecting jobseekers and licensed recruitment agencies. The online scams involve phishing, identity theft and cyber cloning.Phishing involves the fraudulent process of acquiring sensitive or personal information, while identity theft and cyber cloning involves the use of identical or nearly similar (the clone) online accounts (e-mail, website, social media). Identity theft and cyber cloning have recently been used to imitate the websites, simulate the e-mail addresses or clone the social media accounts of some licensed recruitment agencies and their staff to advertise fake overseas jobs and swindle applicants. Aside from money, phishing scams have also tricked jobseekeres into submitting sensitive and personal information. HTcADCThe public is warned to exercise extreme caution in dealing with any online job advertisements as these may be part...