The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) warned the public against fake recruitment calls after posts on Facebook carrying the bogus announcement promising a monthly salary of P43,800 spread and deceived many netizens.
“Huwag magpaloko sa mga fake account. Mag-ingat po sa mga kumakalat na maling impormasyon patungkol rito (Don’t be fooled by fake accounts. Beware of false information spreading about this),” the Coast Guard Human Resource Management Command said last April 2.
VERA Files Fact Check found four FB posts carrying bogus calls which trick people into submitting personal information to fake Blogspot websites. Earlier, there were similar posts that prompted the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) to issue the following statement:
“Liban sa paglalabas ng hindi otorisado at hindi kumpirmadong update, nagdudulot din ito ng kapahamakan dahil kinukuha nito ang pangalan at dokumento ng mga aspiring PCG applicants sa pamamagitan ng isang online application site,” the PCG said in an April 4 announcement.
(Aside from releasing unauthorized and unconfirmed updates, these [posts] cause danger because they gather the names and documents of aspiring PCG applicants through an online application site.)
The Coast Guard said only two FB pages are authorized to post PCG nationwide recruitment updates: the official PCG portal and the page for Coast Guard’s Human Resource Management Command.
Four FB posts carried two bogus bit.ly links that redirect to another website, Leris | PRC Board, which carries other fake recruitment announcements using the names of the Department of Education and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
Posted on FB group PRC Board from April 6 to 10, the bogus recruitment posts garnered a total of 2,020 reactions, 1,805 comments, and 990 shares. These appeared two days after PCG Spokesperson Commodore Jay Tarriela warned of disinformation discrediting the Philippines’ claims in the West Philippine Sea.
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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.)