Text scam targets Pinoys w/ 'roaming' UAE phones

Filipinos in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are targets of a text-based lottery scam, Philippine officials there warned Monday. UAE newspaper Khaleej Times reported that the scam particularly targets members of the Filipino community with Philippine-based roaming mobile phone numbers. Consul Vicente Vicencio Bandillo said the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila has already looked into this case and had released a memorandum to all Philippine missions worldwide. He said that so far, no Filipino from the UAE has fallen for the trap,but nevertheless warned Filipinos to remain cautious about electronic messages that sound "too good to be true." "We have been duly warned by the DFA that the company GMA-CF, which claims to be the organizer of this electronic raffle draw, is not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Manila. The text message is therefore considered a hoax," Bandillo said. The text message informs the prospective victim of an alleged $40,000 (Dh146,000) cash prize as part of President Arroyo's "Pangkabuhayan 2007 Para sa Kababayang Overseas Filipino Workers" livelihood program. But the message also instructs the recipient to send a so-called transfer fee worth $400 through Western Union to a designated person in Manila. It said this will allow the supposed organizers to remit the money to the OFW. The transfer fee should be sent within a period of 72 hours from the date of receipt of the text message. The sender introduces itself as the GMA Charity Foundation (CF) using a mobile number of Smart Communications. In a letter written to the PCG, Paquito Idos, vice president of the Overseas Filipino Civil Engineers Association (OFCEA)-UAE, said that he personally received a similar message and even had a chance to speak to the sender. "I inquired how I won the money and I was told that my number was randomly selected from an electronic raffle draw. When I told a certain Juanita Diaz (sender of the SMS) to deduct the $400 from the $40,000 prize money since I do not have cash on hand, she said that arrangement was not possible," Idos said. - GMANews.TV