A viral graphic shared across Facebook groups claims that the Philippine National Bank (PNB) is offering a scholarship grant for the next school year. This is fake. The posts are scams that steal personal information from netizens.
The bogus post which emerged on March 4 bore PNB’s logo and carried the following text:
“PHILIPPINE NATIONAL BANK SCHOLARSHIP 2024. MAY ANAK KA BA NA NAG-AARAL (Do you have a child who’s studying?) ELEMENTARY 10,000. HIGH SCHOOL 15,000. COLLEGE 20,000 REQUIREMENTS: SCHOOL ID AND REPORT CARD. MAG-REGISTER NA (Register now)!!”
It also had this caption: “SCHOLARSHIP 2024. Tumatanggap ng bagong scholars. MAGREGISTER NA (Accepting new scholars. Register now) LIMITED SLOT ONLY.”
In a March 6 email to VERA Files Fact Check, PNB said the circulating graphic is “unofficial and fictitious.”
There are no official announcements from PNB’s official website or social media channels about a scholarship program for elementary, high school and college students for the academic year 2024-2025.
Based on its 2022 annual report, PNB is indeed offering scholarships through the Tan Yan Kee Foundation but only for children of its employees.
The bogus post also carried a link to a suspicious website where netizens are asked to provide personal information and contact details. The phishing site also showed a graphic of a Landbank scholarship scam which spread in January.
PNB also reminded the public to check for bank-related updates through their official website and social media accounts:
“Please do not communicate with an individual or entity identifying themselves as a PNB employee using non-official PNB communication.”
VERA Files Fact Check has previously flagged several scholarship scams that used the names of different government agencies. (Read: Circulating ‘SSS scholarship’ online applications are FAKE and FAKE ‘DOLE scholarship 2024’ online applications circulate)
Posted in Facebook groups DepEd Tambayan, OFW Saudi Arabia, Meta and Reels Monetization and Samal Job Hiring, the fake announcements garnered over a hundred interactions.
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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.)