MANILA – A new scam that inserts fraudulent messages into legitimate ones is making the rounds and can be trick recipients into thinking the texts are genuine.
The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) on Thursday warned the public the new scam has been found in message threads for e-wallet services like Gcash and Maya.
In a statement, CICC Executive Director Alexander Ramos said such fraudulent messages usually contain links to a fake site that capture the account holders’ details, including one-time passwords and other personal details.
“We are seeing more and more scam text inserting itself into legitimate Gcash or Maya SMS,” Ramos said.
He said scam SMS can sneak messages into legitimate message threads by using a web portal or application.
He also called on the public to be more vigilant and never click links sent through text messages.
“Scammers are now using illegal cell towers to send texts that appear to be from trusted brands,” the advisory SMS from Maya read. (PNA)