text scam alert!
By laniekins
@laniekins (4579)
Philippines
January 10, 2012 3:52am CST
Another scam done by our fellow Filipino, my officemate was scammed by them thru text messaging. The scammer where in right time when my boss is at the meeting outside. The scammer sent sms to my male officemate who's 21 yrs. old only. The scammer disguise as our boss but not naming names. The poor boy falls on his trap, he just ask money on me cause he doesn't have enough money to send to my "boss" as payment for loan. I asked where is that for, he just said my boss is asking him for errand on his loan to fixed. I ask what loan he said it's confidential, I am confused by that. Later I've learned that he was transfer to communicate with an so-called "Agent" and transfer money to a certain person. Anyway, I still give him 1k which is our petty cash and P 200 from my own pocket (my meal/transpo allowance) To complete P 1,700 he also money ask to his friend/officemate and sent the money thru money transfer. Just this afternoon, after lunch when he ask me about our real boss mobile number and to his surprise, it wasn't the one texting him. He let me read the messages and I confirmed by the way the scammer text is not my boss doing. There we started to talk about the matters and found out that he was scammed. I called the money transfer hotline and it confirmed that the money was already picked-up at Mandaluyong Branch. It was too late but bitter-sweet cause the scammer is asking another money. The poor boy was like hypnotize, but atleast we warned a little earlier than never. He's having problem on how he can bring back the money lost.
This is a lesson learned not only for my officemate byt for me too! Always be discreet in dealing with text messages claiming they know you without naming names, don't also name names, let them say the names to be sure. Stay away from sending money through Money transfer, local or internationally. If anyone here who has the same experience, please made a state here to educate others. thanks!
16 responses
@thanks1961 (7035)
• India
10 Jan 12
Hi,
Experience is the best teacher and I hope you must have a real experience from this. Whatever happend now we can forget but get the FEED BACK, that is important. In the present day times, we should be much CAREFULL with things and be much for vigilant. Because we are in a tough competition enviornment and people will act over smart and so wisely to fool around with people and we should not be victim of such things. I never entertain any sms or email which is having a 0% doubt on it. Also, some time we may not GAIN any thing, but it is guaranteed that we won't LOOSE what we have.
Regards
Thank-s
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
18 Jan 12
Hi Thanks1961! The poor boy might not encounter such scam before, when we asked him why he entertain the text message, he replied he really thought it was our boss and he's afraid that our boss might reprimand him if he didn't do the job.
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
18 Jan 12
Exactly, that's what I told him. At first when he is asking for money, I told him what for and he said it's confidential so I let him. It was too late when we realized it was a scam.
@thanks1961 (7035)
• India
18 Jan 12
Certainly, if were the person, I also would do the same. We can't blam the boy. However, we should be careful and better do discuss it someone else also at times for an added advice.
Thanks for your response and have a nice day.
Thank-s
@brew2x (3094)
• Philippines
10 Jan 12
My husband was scammed too through text. Someone texted him and pretended to be his brother. My husband's brother is abroad and my husband doesn't know exactly his mobile number. The message is quite convincing. At first the scammer ask him how is he doing, even used the word "tol" short for utol which means brother. That's how my husband and his brother address each other. Then after a few short messages, the scammer asked my husband to load his phone because he is running out of credits. My husband believing that the one he is exchanging messages with is his brother do what he was told, he even asked his twin brother to load phone credits to that person. After a few days, my husband ask his sister-in-law (his brother's wife) what is the phone number of his brother abroad and it is different from the number of the scammer.
@brew2x (3094)
• Philippines
11 Jan 12
I agree. We should not immediately believe any messages we receive not only from mobile phones (text) but also from e-mails. It is so easy for them to try and scam other people since their identities would be anonymous or they can easily use other people's identities. We should always be vigilant.
@LetranKnight25 (33121)
• Philippines
11 Jan 12
oh, that's right i remember one incident where one texter was claiming to be my mom's relative. but my mom was so smart she keep asking questions that the scammer couldn't reply anymore since she texted some one who couldn't be fooled
.unfortunately, she wasn't smart enough to be fooled by some insurance company called prudential crap!
.unfortunately, she wasn't smart enough to be fooled by some insurance company called prudential crap!@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
18 Jan 12
@brew2x I received such and even my bf, they were not naming names, though it's partly convincing cause my bf has a sister abroad but he is doubting cause the scammer is replying fast while he's sister takes a minute to reply. The scammer is also asking load, he ask questions about what country the scammer is currently, the scammer gave wrong country name so it means that is a scam. A few days later my bf dialed the number and it rings, a girl answer and she told my bf that it might be her cousin who uses her phone when the incident happened.
@Binggaling, I received exactly sms like yours, I replied with cursing and some harsh words to tell them that there are people who knew their modus and to stop them from scamming people.
I guess to stop falling from their trap, never naming names and ask questions to validate the person we are dealing with.
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
19 Jan 12
Very true, may this awaken the minds of the people to stop this scam.
@CTHanum (8234)
• Malaysia
12 Jan 12
The scammer might be someone you know or from that office as well as he/she know the boy phone number and know to disguise as whom. Did he call back the number? He should see the boss first before send any money to him.. I always get messages like I won a contest or something like that but never heard of this kind of trick. It must be someone you know in your office.
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
19 Jan 12
I told him he might know the scammer cause he knows that he is working and my boss is not around. But the person who picked-up the money he send is far away from here.
@CTHanum (8234)
• Malaysia
12 Jan 12
Suddenly I recall things that happened a month ago when my sister get her new number and the next day she got an SMS said that he is the bank officer and would like my sister to call him immediately. He did send SMS and call but my sister refused to do so as this is her new number and she never told anyone about it not any financial agency except me and the siblings. We suspect people who sell the number is the culprit behind this. They might sell the customer info as well to the third party. She ignore it and then she as usual she got the regular scam messages like what I mentioned above.
@enelym001 (8322)
• Philippines
10 Jan 12
At this day and age, we should always be cautious of the people we deal with online, offline or on mobiles. We should not just trust any one that easily. If it's our boss we still need to call our boss first for confirmation - because we are talking about money here.
Well hopefully, it won;t happen again next time.
@CTHanum (8234)
• Malaysia
12 Jan 12
It happen everyday and every time. Here this is a hot topic and subject in daily newspaper other than online dating trap. You could read the same topic as there will be people who falling into this trick. I have read about how this person- not local people who earned millions dollar here by doing all the fake and scammed things and when he get back to his country he is like a mentor to the youth there as now he become a millionaire and have five star hotels. Everyone there wants to be like him and get here to this country to scam people here.
Sigh~
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
18 Jan 12
Really awful, I guess one way of fighting scammers is to spread the news about them and real experiences of scammed people. That's why I post this topic.
@enelym001 (8322)
• Philippines
12 Jan 12
Sounds so bad CTHanum! And poor local in your country, they should be cautious. They should not let other people fool them.
@angelako (280)
• Italy
10 Jan 12
Its sad to know about that but there are lot of bad people out there so you must not entertsin text like that.I sometimes receive text about something you win but i dont entertain.be carfeful always there are some people who has nothing else to do but scam people.
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
18 Jan 12
@angelako true, sometimes you can't help it that you believe it was your friend or family.
@CTHanum I had the same experience with you, I received the same message about winning and they pretend to be the company who produce watch and jewelry, I called the mobile number as instructed and a man I think like in a call center told me about the raffle and he is asking me to call another person to claim the prize. I ask my bf to search for the site that was given to me and he can't find anything so I doubt and didn't call the person. Later I search for the company and I found forum about that scam who has exactly the same experience as I did and sadly there are few who fall for that trap. 
@CTHanum (8234)
• Malaysia
12 Jan 12
The first fake message I got from the 'telecommunication company' saying that I won their contest and my number get selected to win thousand dollars! What the..???? I never enter any competition and the telco never had new contest and suddenly I am the winner??? And they asked me to called a very strange number-not the local that is for sure. At first I feel a bit nervous but then I feel it funny as it will not going to fool me. It is funny but sad there are so many people fall into the same trap.
@LetranKnight25 (33121)
• Philippines
11 Jan 12
Hello Laniekins, though I have shared my story about people who deliberately use hypnotic techniques to brain wash people, this incident should have been avoided if the person was more vigilant. there is no doubt he didn't have time to study his boss's message. If such order is given he should call the boss for reassurance. well, we all have to be careful.
as for me, that ain't gonna work since i rarely use my Mobile Phone
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
19 Jan 12
He was like hypnotized through text message, he's roommate told us that he leave things in their room unattended while searching for money. They rent a room in the same building where we work.
@Graceekwenx (3160)
• Philippines
10 Jan 12
oh my goodness gracious! Last october, my boss' friend was snatched of his phone. The thief also started scams thru text messages to the contacts on the phone stating that he needed money as he would undergo cardiac bypass in PGH! The scammer got around 160k. Sheesh!
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
18 Jan 12
Oh my that was such a big money, how come the friends didn't validate or investigate it first? Your boss should have contacted them first or announced that he's phone was lost.
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
19 Jan 12
He didn't define what loan, he was reprimanded before but not too much, he said he really wanted to do the task given to him. We didn't tell our boss about that, there's for sure a lot of questions to be answer if we do.
@angelic123 (1108)
• United States
12 Jan 12
my mom was scammed too,she received a text saying that it is her daughter's new roaming number and she needs a load to continue her roaming. My mom thinking it was me,send her 100 pesos.Then I called her one time and said if I received the load.I was puzzled because I don't need a load because I have no roaming number.I contacted globe but they told me to report it to other government agency,can not remember maybe it is DTI.
The lesson is do not be fooled.Ignore the text or call that number and asks personal question that only the real person will know.
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
19 Jan 12
I received numerous text like that, I ignored or I replied back with harsh words to let them know I know their modus.
@bhonti (1246)
• Philippines
10 Jan 12
There are many scams such as that spreading in our societies. We can not stop this easily, but as citizens, we should always be vigilant. Sharing experiences just like the one you did is very helpful for other so that hey may be warned about this modus. Thanks!
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
18 Jan 12
You can also search on the forums, there forums about scams and you will be surprise about their post that tells the exactly the same text messages and emails you received. They are really helpful.
@myzhian (584)
• Philippines
11 Jan 12
I am so sorry about your friend, he should have been more alert and cautious, here in the Philippines operations like that are so active! I never entertain suspicious messages that i receive, I avoid things like this!
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
19 Jan 12
He will be more cautious now that he experienced that for sure.
@mavil85 (348)
• Philippines
10 Jan 12
hello there kabayan!
that's really sad, but since scams like this are very popular in the Philippines you should have double checked. lesson learned! next time be wiser, I hope it won't happen again to you. poor office mate of yours. It's very difficult to earn money here in the Philippines that some people resort to doing bad things. I hope they stop doing criminal acts and work and earn the right way
take care!
@rog0322 (2829)
• Cagayan De Oro, Philippines
12 Jan 12
Right. I, for one, don't really base my decisions on sms alone. I always go to some lengths to verify the message before taking actions that may have some consequences. Verify, evaluate, and personally eyeball the event before executing some plans of action.
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
17 Jan 12
Sorry guys for late response, I think now he learned his lesson never fall on text scam or even more wiser. If only he ask me about our boss real number, I could have prevented it early. I've been almost scam through net and text, I search the internet about it and luckily I got warned by the forums that has the same topic as mine.
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
18 Jan 12
It's hard to determine the scammer if he use mobile phone for scamming, sim cards cost very cheap in the Philippines and you can buy and use as many as you can, it is prepaid so there is no registration of sim card when we bought it.
@SIMPLYD (90721)
• Philippines
10 Jan 12
Thank you for informing us of that modus.
yes, we have to be apprehensive of all the texts that we receive , specially when it is asking for money. Don't easily believe. Verify in some ways, in getting more information.
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
18 Jan 12
True, we need to verify it first, the computer really helps. What happened was I was the least person he told about the text message, I could have been prevented it if only he told me early.
@yahnee (1243)
• Philippines
10 Jan 12
The worst scam text that I received was one that supposedly came from my daughter who was traveling to Shaw Boulevard at the time that I received the text. The message stated that she met an accident along the way and I should load some credits to the phone she has borrowed in order to make a call. Since my daughter owns a Blackberry, she doesn't often use it because of fear that it might be snatched. I really panicked and was indeed trembling with fear and nervousness. Fortunately my partner told me that I should instead load my own phone with credits so I can do the calling. He already suspected it was a scam. We tried calling the number where the text came from but there wasn't any reply. Were it not for the presence of mind of my partner, I would surely have lost a few bucks.
@laniekins (4579)
• Philippines
18 Jan 12
That was tricky, thanks to your husband's presence of mind. You did the right thing, validating first before action. Calling the phone number I guess is one of the key to prevent from being scam.
