Public warned vs impostor asking for money from govt offices

Malacañang and the Bureau of Customs warned the public Wednesday against an "impostor" posing as several government officials. Customs Commissioner Rozzano Rufino Biazon said the impostor posed as him and called up Duty-Free Philippines to ask for a P20,000 donation for "team-building." "I asked (our) intelligence to trace (the impostor's) whereabouts. We got it. Of course (the number he used) was prepaid so there's no identity yet," Biazon said on his Twitter account Wednesday afternoon. As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, he said the impostor's latest call was to Duty-Free Philippines, "asking for 20 thousand pesos supposedly for team building." In posts on his Twitter account earlier in the day, Biazon said he received a call from a man claiming to be Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office head Ramon Carandang. "Someone called me impersonating Sec. Ricky Carandang. He asked me to instruct one of my DepComms (deputy commissioners) to call him. Number is 09063912286. BEWARE!" Biazon said. Biazon said the impersonator then called a collector of the Customs Bureau and told him "to prepare money for (Executive Secretary Paquito Jr.) Ochoa." He said the impersonator used the same cell phone number in calling the Customs collector. In a third Twitter post, Biazon said the impersonator may also claim to be different government officials, including him. When a netizen suggested that he push a measure making the registration of subscriber information module (SIM) cards mandatory, he said he already pushed that while he was in Congress. "I pushed that during my entire three terms in Congress. Very stiff resistance from consumer groups and telcos," he said. At the Palace, Carandang issued a similar warning to the public. "Fyi, an impostor has been calling government offices claiming to me. He is using celphone number 09063912286," he said. — RSJ, GMA News