Impostor alert: DSWD cautions vs scammers posing as DSWD chief

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) over the weekend warned the public against scammers pretending to be DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian on messaging applications.

In a Facebook post, the DSWD said the con artists are using Gatchalian’s photo, name, and mobile phone number in duping unsuspecting Filipinos on messaging applications.

The DSWD said the fraudsters would pretend to be Gatchalian and solicit money for supposed foundations.

In a screenshot of one such message, the scammer posing as Gatchalian asked a victim to transfer a sum of money to the account of a supposed foundation.

The scammer claimed that he already maxed out his account’s limit for fund transfers, hence the request. The scammer also promised to pay back the transferred amount.

Other scammers, meanwhile, posed as Gatchalian’s aide in their fraudulent activities.

One screenshot showed a fraudster pretending to be Gatchalian’s aide and asking a victim to change his or her settings on a messaging application.

The DSWD stressed that Gatchalian would never solicit any amount from anyone as donations for any charity or foundation.

“Maging mapagmatiyag. Mangyaring mag-double check at mag-verify muna bago makipagtransaksyon kanino man. Mag-ingat sa mga manloloko,” the agency added in its Facebook post.

(Be vigilant. Always double-check and verify before transacting with anyone. Take care against fraudsters.)— JMA, GMA Integrated News