A video showing instructions on how to register for the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)’s supposed cash aid for students this school year is circulating on TikTok. The post is fake and phishes personal information from netizens.
The bogus video includes an application form that bore DSWD’s logo and indicates the amount students can supposedly receive, ranging from P5,000 to P10,000, depending on their year level.
In a July 14 advisory, the DSWD told the public that it has yet to announce a timeline for its distribution of educational assistance this year, and cautioned against fake “applications” circulating on TikTok.
Newsclips used to mislead
The DSWD advisory addressed a specific TikTok account (@dswd2024), which, similar to the one flagged by VERA Files Fact Check (@philippineayuda), spliced together audio from news clips to make its content seem legitimate.
The circulating TikTok video featured an audio clip taken from a report from GMA Unang Hirit’s Unang Balita on Aug. 19, 2022, where journalist Ivan Mayrina reported on the DSWD’s financial assistance for indigent students that year.
Fake application form
The fake video’s narrator also instructed interested applicants to click a fake application link in the TikTok account’s profile to access a registration form. The form asks for personal information such as one’s name, address, age, birthday, and mobile phone number.
The DSWD previously said that it does not request personal information online for educational assistance applications, as it is prohibited under the Data Privacy Act.
Existing DSWD cash assistance programs
As of publishing, the agency’s ongoing educational assistance program is called the Tara, Basa! Tutoring Program, where college students from low-income families can become either reading tutors for struggling grade schoolers, or youth development workers to help turn parents and guardians into “Nanay-Tatay teachers”. The college students receive P500 a day during the 20-day program.
There is also the Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations program, which offers, among others, educational assistance for indigent, vulnerable or marginalized persons.
The bogus TikTok video was published two weeks before classes for school year 2024-2025 opened on July 29. Uploaded by TikTok user @philippineayuda twice on July 14 and 17, the fraudulent video has collectively garnered 5.8 million views, 117,500 reactions, 5,641 comments, and 41,900 shares.
Editor’s Note: The author is a University of the Philippines student writing for VERA Files as part of his internship.
