At least four Facebook (FB) pages used an old warning about a strong earthquake to fool people into clicking affiliate links from an e-commerce site. These are misleading.
Clicking the links in the posts redirected to products such as a luggage, a portable fan, a toy water gun, and a rotating Christmas light bulb, instead of showing updates from PHIVOLCS or lists of areas advised to prepare for the earthquake.
These clickbait links used a URL shortener called ln.run. Be careful of URL shorteners, which convert long website links into shorter versions. Scammers may use these to hide a malicious website’s true nature, according to the National Privacy Commission.
The FB posts – which appeared on Nov. 26 and cited Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) Director Teresito Bacolcol – claimed that the West Valley Fault might generate an earthquake stronger than magnitude 8:
“#TheBigOne : PHIVOLCS NAGBABALA SA POSIBLENG MALAKAS NA LINDOL — WEST VALLEY FAULT, MAAARING MANGYARI ANUMANG ARAW‼️
(#TheBigOne: PHIVOLCS warned against a potential strong earthquake from the West Valley Fault [that] may happen anytime!)”
Bacolcol did issue warnings, in March and July, about a potential strong earthquake originating from the West Valley Fault. He also warned about magnitude 8.1 and 8.3 earthquakes from the Philippine Trench and the Manila Trench, as reported by GMA News last April.
However, the figures cited in the FB posts are inaccurate. Bacolcol said that the West Valley Fault might generate a magnitude 7.2 or intensity 8 earthquake, not an earthquake stronger than magnitude 8 as claimed.
“Hindi siya as “warning warning” na mangyayari na (This is not a warning to say that the earthquake is about to happen). It’s just to remind people na be ready anytime,” Lara Gianan, science research analyst for PHIVOLCS, told VERA Files Fact Check in a Nov. 27 phone call.
“Yes, pwede siyang tumama, pero hindi natin mapre-predict kung kailan tatama. So kaya po tayo pinaghahanda ng PHIVOLCS in case mangyari iyon (Yes, [the earthquake] might hit, but we cannot predict when it will happen. That’s why PHIVOLCS asks citizens to prepare in case it happens), Gianan added.
Posted by FB pages News Headlines (created on March 18, 2021), BastaViral (created on June 29, 2020), Philippine Weather System/Pacific Storm Update (created on March 27, 2022) and Weather Watch Philippines (created on July 4, 2022), the misleading posts garnered over 436 reactions, 176 comments, and 1,876 shares.
These posts appeared a day after a magnitude 4.0 earthquake jolted the municipality of Abra De Ilog in Occidental Mindoro.
