Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Norman Tansingco warned the public of the proliferation of scam accounts on social media, saying the bureau is not connected in releasing parcels or packages from abroad.
In a statement, Tansingco reminded the public that the BI never communicates with the senders and receivers of packages/parcels passing by the ports under its management.
The BI chief made the remarks after his office received reports of email accounts and social media pages extorting unknowing people in the guise of being official pages.
The BI said that in February, he received information about an email address sending invoices requesting P25,000 for a supposed package from Japan that was being held for release.
He said they received another similar complaint, extorting the victims P3,000 for the release of a package from Syria.
“In another complaint reported to us, a victim was being asked P20,000
for the release of luggage being held at the airport,” said Tansingco.
Tansingco clarified that the BI is not in any way connected to the release of parcels or cargoes.
The BI Chief said that they have forwarded details of the case to the Cybercrime investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) for investigation.
It can be recalled that in 2022, the BI inked a coordination agreement with the CICC to strengthen efforts against cybercrimes.