Four Facebook (FB) posts are claiming that the Department of Education (DepEd) is distributing scholarships to students. This is a modus to lure netizens into sending messages to people involved in investment scams.
“The Department of Education (DepEd) warns the public about the FAKE DepEd scholarship posts circulating online,” read a Feb. 19 advisory.
DepEd has reminded the public to “stay vigilant against misinformation,” and encouraged everyone to check the agency’s official social media pages for announcements.
The bogus posts bore the DepEd logo and a photo of Education Secretary Sara Duterte-Carpio. The supposed offer is P5,000 for elementary students, P7,000 for high school students, and P10,000 for college and vocational students.
“Ang unang 2k tao na nagsasabi ng ( How ), Ibinibigay ko sa iyo ang ₱26k (I will give P26,000 to the first 2,000 people who will type “How” [in the comments section]),” the caption on the FB posts read.
Several FB accounts asked people to send them a private message so they could avail themselves of the scholarship. This is the same tactic used in a DSWD scam previously debunked by VERA Files.
Cursory searches on some of these accounts show they are involved in foreign exchange trading and cryptocurrency scams.
The bogus posts, shared from March 7 to 12, garnered a total of 2,971 reactions, 6,108 comments, and 294 shares.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)