CICC issues warning vs. rewards scam

THE country’s Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) on Monday issued a stern warning to the public not to patronize a so-called “reward” scam that is masquerading itself as from Globe Telecoms.

According to the CICC, the said scam is being used as phishing to get the personal and bank details of victims.

CICC Executive Director Alexander Ramos explained that the domain, globeeph.top is reported to have been preying on vulnerable customers  via short message service or SMS. 

The SMS said: “The globe points service reminds you that your current points account (3,022 points) will expire today. Redeem your points as soon as possible: https://globeeph.top/i    Please reply Y then exit SMS, open the SMS to activate the link again, or copy the link to the Safari browser and open it.” 

Once customers click the  domain, they are  required  to provide personal details  and bank account number to be able to redeem their points. 

Ramos  said that CICC’s fraud team has recommended the blocking of the  domain and vowed to  continuously warn the public about SMS fraud, especially those coming out from unofficial sources.

“There is nothing to cause alarm, but as part of the protocol,  we have recommended the blocking of the domain to avoid  victimizing more  customers,” he said. 

“We also want to reiterate  our appeal to the public to stop clicking links  from unofficial sources in order to avoid being scammed.” 

The anti-fraud network , Gogolook  classified the globeeph.top  as a “dangerous link.” 

“High -risk content detected. Do not click. The URL may contain security issues and attempt to phish for your personal info and money,”  the Gogolook’s URL Scan stated. 

Victims of  phishing  are encouraged to call 1326, the hotline of  the Inter-Agency Response Center (IARC).