MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has warned the public against holiday scams.

The BSP said there are 10 modes of operations that scammers usually do in order to get personal information from their victims:

• Text scams
• Phishing
• Spoofing
• Identity theft
• Nigerian scams
• Ponzi/Pyramiding scheme
• Spurious investments
• Credit card and ATM skimming
• Budol-budol scam
• Dugo-dugo gang

Several scammers, usually entice victims by telling them that they have won in a raffle or in a lottery.

Mhel Plabasan, Director of BSP’s Technology Risk and Innovation Supervision Department (TRISD, advises the public to be vigilant and think carefully before falling into scams.

“Immediately, i-report mo doon sa financial institution kung saan ka nagme-maintain ng account. They are in the best position para i-hold or i-block muna iyong account. Tapos, magko-conduct sila ng investigation (You should immediately report it to the financial institution where you maintain your account. They are in the best position to hold or block your account. Then they will conduct an investigation),“ he said.

Meanwhile, Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson PBGen. Ildebrandi Usana also advised the public to be careful in making transactions this holiday season.

“We really are appealing doon po sa ating mga mamamayan to be more prudent in dealing with someone na nakikipagkilala at probably nagbibigay ng mga messages appearing to be true pero may kaakibat na mga babayarin without them knowing it. Nagkaroon na po ng mga scams out of these (We are appealing to our citizens to be more prudent in dealing with someone who is making acquaintances and providing messages that are appearing to be true but there is a catch. There have been scams reported that are similar to this),” he said. —AAC (with reports from Asher Cadapan Jr.)

MANILA, Philippines – The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Friday said its ready to produce the cards for the national identification system.

BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno issued the statement as the central bank printed samples of the ID card and showed a glimpse of it in an image he posted on his Twitter account.

“Finally, the BSP is ready to print the #NationalID. We inspected the machines that will print the IDs this morning. The machines have the capacity to print 154,000 cards per day,” Diokno said in his tweet.

The central bank has been tasked to print the ID cards. It signed a memorandum of agreement with the Philippine Statistics Authority to produce blank cards for IDs under the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys).

Under the agreement, the BSP shall produce 116 million cards over a period of three years. The cards, which are non-transferable, will be issued to all Philippine citizens and for resident aliens registered under the PhilSys.

The printing of the ID cards will cost a total of P3.4 billion out of the total cost of P30 billion of the PhilSys project.

The card will become the official proof of identity for each Filipino and is seen to eliminate the need for providing two government IDs when transacting with companies or financial institutions.

It will contain the PhilSys number of each person, his or her name, facial image, sex, address, date of birth, and blood type. It will also contain information such as fingerprints.

“The national ID system has been decades in the making. We look forward to bringing it to the Filipino people to promote financial inclusion and digitalization,” Diokno said.

The PSA has already started the process of registration for the first 9 million low-income households in 32 provinces.

The registration for residents in Metro Manila and other areas will start next year.

The PSA earlier said the registration is voluntary but they would recommend for Filipinos to go through the process as the national ID can help expedite the delivery of government services and assistance to poor families.

The PSA is looking to complete the registration and issue the national ID before the end of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term in 2022.

MANILA, Philippines — Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno on Wednesday (October 7) inspected the machines that will be used in printing the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) card or the national ID card.

The BSP has been tasked to print the ID cards. According to Diokno, the national ID will make opening of bank accounts and other bank transactions easier for Filipinos. It would also make it easier to comply with the stringent know-your client (KYC) requirement of banks, he said.

Having a national ID would also help facilitate the distribution of welfare grants to individuals.

The Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) is fast-tracking the full implementation of the or the national ID under Republic Act No. 11055.

The PSA is set to kick-start the pre-registration process for the national ID system on October 12.