BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas on Thursday advised the public not to do any transactions with Global Investment Bank, or GIB Philippines Bank Ltd., because it was not authorized to engage business in the Philippines.
The bank regulator in a statement Thursday warned the public against the unauthorized banking activities of GIB or GBPL in the country.
Bangko Sentral said in its Web site that GIB/GPBL misrepresented itself to the public as a licensed bank in the Philippines authorized to carry out banking transactions for international activities.
“The BSP clarifies that GIB/GPBL has no certificate of authority to operate as a bank in the Philippines and is not licensed to accept deposits. In view of this, the BSP strongly advises the public not to transact with GIB/GPBL,” Bangko Sentral said.
Bangko Sentral also warned the public against fraudsters who mislead potential victims by providing a link in their Web site to a spoofed or fake Bangko Sentral Web site created purposely to deceive and make it appear that it is listed as a Bangko Sentral-supervised entity.
“To make sure that the correct Web site is accessed, the URL should be directly entered into the Web browser instead of clicking links from unknown sources,” it said.
Bangko Sentral also reminded the public to remain vigilant and cautious in handling online financial transaction, which should only be done on a secure, trusted and verified Web site.
“A Web site is ‘secure’ if there is an ‘https’ in the URL and a closed padlock icon ( ) on the status or address bar of the browser. It is also prudent to avoid doing online financial transactions from internet cafés or public computer terminals,” it said.
The central bank said the caution would minimize the risk that sensitive information such as usernames and passwords are retained in the said terminals and eventually end up being used to conduct unauthorized transactions on behalf of the legitimate user.
“Furthermore, the BSP advises everyone to avoid opening and to immediately delete unsolicited messages also known as spam or junk e-mails from strangers to avoid falling prey to these scammers,” it said.