The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) on Wednesday warned the public against cryptocurrency investment scams, targeting Christmas bonuses.
CICC executive Director Alexander Ramos said banks noticed a number of their depositors losing millions in the past few days to cryptocurrency scams, but were refusing to report to authorities.
“We have already warned the public as early as November about the surge in cryptocurrency scams, and now it is becoming worse because scammers are taking advantage of the Christmas and year-end bonuses of the people,” said Ramos.
Cryptocurrency has become popular investment instrument because of the surge in value. The price of bitcoin skyrocketed from $500 in May 2016 to $93,730 as of Dec. 24, 2024.
CICC issued a cybercrime warning in November alerting the public of cryptocurrency scammers enticing victims to pay in dollars in a foreign account.
Ramos said scammers changed their modus operandi this time by opening digital accounts which easily disappear as soon as investors deposited between P100,000 and more than a million.
Banks were very concerned about this development because their depositors were directly transferring funds from local bank accounts to fly-by-night digital accounts, he said.
“We are advising the public to think first before they invest on anything. They should make sure that these digital currency accounts where they will be transferring their funds are supervised by the BSP,” Ramos said.
Scammers are also believed to be locally-based, taking advantage of the fat bonuses of employees during the Christmas season.
Ramos asked the public to do research about any form of investment before putting their money into it.
“Check with government regulatory agencies if such companies have the license to do business before investing. Remember no investment is risk free,” he said.
Victims of investment scams are advised to call the Inter-Agency Response Center (IARC) hotline 1326 which is toll-free and operates round-the-clock from Mondays to Sundays including these coming Christmas and New Year holidays.
