THE Bureau of Immigration said scammers profit from the eTravel platform by collecting payment for registration.
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco urged travelers to be wary of fake websites that run this kind of scam and to report them to the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) via its website at https://cicc.gov.ph/report/.
“The eTravel registration process is absolutely free of charge. We, therefore, advise the traveling public to register only on the government’s official website at https://etravel.gov.ph.,” Tansingco said.
Related Article: Amid holiday season, travelers urged to register with eTravel
Related Article: eTravel System now covers departing passengers
Related Article: Philippines to do away with paper-based departure cards starting May 1
The BI said it received reports of passengers at the airports who claim they have already registered on the eTravel platform and “paid” the supposed fees that were charged to them.
Amounts allegedly collected from the passengers range from P3,000 to P5,000, when converted to pesos, as the fees charged by the scammers are usually in US dollars.
BI officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) have reported cases of passengers who were surprised when informed that they had to register in eTravel as the digital QR code they presented could not be accessed in the system.
“It is only when they encounter our officers at the airport that these passengers will realize they have been duped by these fraudsters and scammers on the internet,” Tansingco said.
Launched in December 2022, eTravel replaced the arrival and departure cards that international passengers were required to fill out prior to being cleared by immigration officers.
It reduced paper-based requirements by harmonizing all data needs on one joint platform.
