TEXT SCAM

We have heard countless of times that the Philippines is the texting capital of the world. Testament to this is the fact that several years back it (texting) was used to stir support to depose a President suspected of plunder. Today, texting is being used not only to send messages but to market products, and candidates as well. Hehe.

But as the cliché goes, every good thing has its own shares of setbacks. Texting, for years now is being used to scam unsuspecting victims into believing that they won in raffles or promos which they did not even join. Worse, to investigate these types of cases poses certain difficulties- as usual. I decided to discuss this because I grow tired of the increasing number of persons being victimized by text scammers despite repeated information awareness campaigns. This, apart from some persons claiming that my recent blogs have become political.

With the absence of a system to register and monitor the sale, use and circulation of sim cards, syndicates or just about any person intending to commit illegal acts do so with the use of any mobile device/sim card with ease.

Take the case of a text scam artist. I am sure at one time or another you or any person you know have received a text message claiming that you won in a raffle by the PCSO, PAGCOR, Central Bank or at times by a certain PGMA Charity Foundation.

This scam dates back in the late 1990s when syndicates using a prepaid sim card would randomly send text messages to different cellphone numbers posing as officials of the PCSO. The message sender would offer the recipient the chance to become the jackpot winner in that evening’s lotto draw by offering the winning number combinations in exchange for a sum of money. When the recipient replies back to show interest, the syndicate would explain that the promo is confidential as it was illegal and would tarnish the lottery’s reputation. In the process, they would explain that six “Malaysian” draw balls which are lighter than the rest would be mixed among the normally used draw balls and being so would easily be sucked by the machine yielding to the pre-arranged number combinations. The syndicate, would even dare to ask the message recipient to call the PCSO to inquire if the message sender was indeed connection in the said office.

Ultimately, when the recipient falls prey to this MO, he is instructed to deposit a certain amount to a savings account and once the same is made, the number combinations would be given, thus, the unsuspecting victim can proceed to a nearby lotto outlet to place his bet. The victim would only realize that he has been had when the winning number combinations were entirely different from those given to him. But of course.


As I earlier said, the investigation of these types of cases poses certain difficulties. This is a type of scam where suspects are not only a step ahead from investigators but probably leaps and bounds in advance. First, scammers know for a fact that the names and addresses of prepaid sim card users are not recorded in the phone provider making it very difficult for victims and investigators alike to inquire on the user and location of a number at a particular date and time. Oftentimes, sim cards are purchased and discarded immediately after a scammer becomes successful in getting money from his victims. Second, scammers would normally use an ATM (Savings) Account to receive the money from their gullible victims and being so, they can easily verify if the money was already deposited or available for withdrawal. Being so, it could be that the suspect is in Mindanao but his victim in the farthest north and yet he is capable of checking deposits from a nearby ATM Machine. And because of the existing Secrecy of Bank Deposits Law, verifications being made on the owners of the accounts are likewise an exercise in futility. This is so because despite the provisions of the Anti-Money Laundering Law which requires strict measures in admitting applications for bank accounts, syndicates still manage to do so using fictitious names and addresses.

Most operations against these scammers have failed- again for the failure to trace their whereabouts “real-time”. Efforts exerted to arrest them on the basis of “real-time” or ongoing offers by inducing them to personally meet their target victims have mostly proved futile as suspects would initially claim that they would appear in person but do not show up on the designated time and place. This was very logical because as I earlier said, the victim and suspect being in two entirely distant places may not really have the chance to meet. In the first place, do you even expect suspects to show up under these circumstances?


The said MO has mutated in a way that syndicates have used practically known income generating offices of the government and has managed to victimize even dollar earning OFWs abroad. Later on, syndicates stop applying for bank accounts in order to minimize the paper trail and instead use ATM Cards they buy from different persons who are no more in use thereof. The only few times that law enforcement becomes successful in arresting them are when they instruct victims to send money through remittance centers.

Agencies of government and the media have all taken an active part in the dissemination of information to curb this fraudulent scheme and yet a lot of people still fall prey to the MO. Call it gullibility or the attraction of easy money but the fact is we cannot be victims if we do not allow others to victimize us. Not that there is something wrong with joining raffles and promos, but let us bear in mind that when it is too be good to be true, it must not be true.

So the next time, you receive a text message of this nature, just disregard it and share the information to people you know. Let us do our part in minimizing these types of scams, if not totally eradicate them.