Anti-cybercrime center warns of common online scams during holiday season

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 31) — The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) warns the public of online scams that emerge during the holidays when syndicates take advantage of travelers.

“We want the public to be more vigilant against various online scam activities, especially when we are out of our homes,” CICC Executive Director Undersecretary Alexander Ramos said in a statement Tuesday.

1. Caution against public wi-fi networks

While public wi-fi networks provide convenience on the go, the CICC warned that these networks can put any device at risk. Due to its lack of security, an open and unsecure wi-fi may be compromised by hackers who would embed viruses and malware to connected devices.

Through a public wi-fi connection, hackers could access personal information and use it to control the devices and steal identities as well as money, according to the CICC, an attached agency of the Department Of Information And Communications Technology.

“An attacker will intercept the communication flow between your handsets and browser and steal information and potentially allowing your device to be hijacked,” Ramos said.

2. Fake e-wallet apps

The CICC said fake e-wallet apps, or apps that look like legitimate e-wallet apps, created by scammers are widespread.

Users may input their real e-wallet credentials to these fake apps, unknowingly providing scammers their information and use it to access their e-wallet accounts.

«Scammers can access your real e-wallet credentials if you download and install a fake e-wallet app. The public must download e-wallet from legitimate app stores,» the CICC said.

3. Tech support scams

Also rampant are scammers posing as tech support agents of banks, e-wallets, and e-commerce sites among others, according to the CICC.

They would call users and claim that there is a problem with their account, forcing them to provide their personal information in order to fix the supposed problem.

«Ignore calls from numbers you don’t know, [especially] scammers calling you and claiming to be from your e-wallet provider,» said Ramos.

4. Phishing

Expect more phishing emails and messages that appear to be from legitimate