Yet another website imitating The Manila Times posted a story endorsing a cryptocurrency trading program supposedly recommended by former Finance secretary Carlos Dominguez III. This is a rehash of a previously debunked hoax.
Several Facebook (FB) users and a page circulated the link to the website as early as Oct. 3. It carried an article on Dominguez’s supposed TV Patrol interview where he revealed how a new cryptocurrency platform called BTC Ai Urex 2.0 can turn Filipinos into millionaires within three to four months. Its headline read:
“SPECIAL REPORT: Carlos Dominguez’s Latest Investment Has Experts in Awe And Big Banks Terrified.”
The article also provided a “step-by-step” guide on how the public can “deposit” money to the platform to gain profit.
This is fake. The Manila Times did not publish such a story. The same fabricated report was used in previous scams, only changing the platform’s name as well as the public figure and media organization that were impersonated.
The hoax report was uploaded on a website with the domain name nrebkloak.digital, not by the Manila Times’ official site (manilatimes.net).
In 2020, the Department of Finance warned about a “cryptocurrency auto-trading platform” that similarly used Dominguez’s identity to lure investors.
The report’s content is nearly identical to the one that featured Manny Pacquiao promoting a different platform last August. It only replaced the boxer’s name and photos with those of Dominguez’s.
(Read VERA FILES FACT CHECK: Bogus site resurfaces FAKE story endorsing a ‘bitcoin trading platform’)
According to the cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, the Philippines was the second most attacked country in Southeast Asia last year when it comes to crypto-phishing, recording 24,737 cases.
Two Filipino celebrities and other individuals filed a complaint this month against a cryptocurrency group for allegedly scamming them into investing about P8 million.
Several netizens and the verified FB page of Turkish actress Hazal Filiz Küçükköse (created on June 11, 2010) were among those that circulated the link.
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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.)
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