Scam Alerts

Telephone Scams

2006-12-18

Press Release No. ABM-15-2005 The Consulate General of the Philippines in Toronto would like to warn all our kababayans concerning a phone scam victimizing families of Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the Philippines.

Perpetrators of the scam operate in the following fashion:

The scam artist makes a telephone call to a relative of an OFW in the Philippines.

The bogus caller identifies himself as supposedly a high-ranking Filipino diplomat or an officer at one of the foreign Embassy in the Philippines.

The caller concocts a tale making it appear that the OFW abroad is in distress, e.g. the OFW has been involved in a crime, was wounded, and successfully airlifted to a certain province in the Philippines.

With the connivance of another scam partner, the callers proceed to convince the relative of the OFW that money is immediately needed for the urgent medical treatment of the OFW (the reasons for the immediate need of money could vary) detailing the manner for the transfer of money.

Another modus operandi employed by the scam perpetrators is to ask for the bank account of the victim for a variety of fabricated reasons.

The Consulate General would like to advise our kababayans to be alert on the said scam and report the same to the Consulate General at telephone number 416-922 7181; facsimile number 416-922 2638 and e-mail address torontopc@philcongen-toronto.com should a similar incident occur to them.

( originally posted on April 12th 2005 )

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