With new college graduates entering the workforce, several Facebook (FB) posts offering assistance in acquiring a Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) card for a fee are also popping up. These are scams, says the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
The agency says obtaining a TIN card is free of charge and is issued only by the BIR through authorized personnel stationed at its revenue district offices.
Published as early as May 6, the FB posts continue to spread this week. Attached with a photo showing a blank template of a TIN card, the earliest circulating post bore this caption with spaced out text to avoid keyword detection:
“May existing # kana ba? At yellow parin ang T I N I D mo. Mag-upgrade kana sa G R E E N C A R D with Q R C O D E. NO RE QUIRE MENTS NEEDED.FREE DELIVERY and CASH ON DELIVERY narin po. L E G I T. Kami napo bahala magprocess. Issued directly sa B I R.
(Do you already have a TIN? And you still have a yellow TIN ID? Upgrade to a green TIN card with a QR code. No requirements needed. Free delivery and it’s also cash on delivery. Legit. We’ll take care of the processing. Issued directly by the BIR.)”
Those interested are asked to give their personal information – name, complete address, zip code, birthdate, TIN and contact number – and are required to pay a fee.
The BIR just days ago warned against individuals offering such third-party services on social media sites and other e-commerce sites that are considered “illegal, fraudulent and fake.”
“These offers of TIN ID Assistance posted in online channels/selling platforms are not authorized by the BIR and are, therefore, considered ILLEGAL. Please do not be deceived or misled by such offers,” BIR Commissioner Romeo Lumagui Jr. said in a June 19 advisory.
At least 57 FB groups and pages have published similar posts offering such suspicious services just this month, according to social media monitoring tool CrowdTangle. The post by FB page TIN Registration (created on Feb. 20, 2021) got the highest number of interactions, garnering over 3,000 reactions, 640 comments and 180 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.)
