Office of the Vice President (OVP) Chief of Staff Undersecretary Benjamin E. Martinez today warned the public against the resurgence of scams circulating via text messages invoking the name of Vice President Jejomar C. Binay.
“Beware of text messages that say your number has won a prize from the supposed Pabahay or Kabuhayan Fund of Vice President Binay,” Martinez said.
“This is the same scam that was circulated earlier this year. It is unfortunate that there are some people who continue to use the name of the Vice President to deceive their fellow Filipinos,” he added.
The OVP warned the public against similar text scams last April.
Martinez clarified that Vice President Binay has no raffle draws of any kind using cellphone numbers to pick winners.
“These are totally bogus and should not be believed,” he added.
He said that he himself has received the text scams while he was informed by his staff of other variations of the scam.
Because of the resurgence of the text messages, the OVP Chief of Staff also said he has already asked the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to look into the matter.
“Our office is already trying to trace the origin of these messages. We have also requested the NBI to conduct a probe,” he said.
Martinez added that it was difficult to trace the messages as they were sent using prepaid mobile numbers.
Circulating text messages include:
“D/MILLIONAIRE’S CLUB OFFICE OF THE PHILS., nforming u dat ur cel# Won!, in PABAHAY NI “BINAY” 2011!, Worth, Php850,000.00 DTI-NCR permit#1603s11, Pls. call me now!!..I’m Atty. Vic L. Delima.”
“Congratulations!! Ur SIm# had Won P480,000+Sony Laptop. From BINAY FUND. HANDOG KABUHAYAN. 4 more info!Call me now Atty. REY A. LIM DTI#0138 Series/2011.”
