BI warns public of scammers pretending to be officials

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) warned the public about a returning modus of scammers pretending to be immigration officials.

In a statement, BI Commissioner Jaime Morente stated that he received reports of scammers targeting heads of BI’s provincial offices.

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“These scammers would call up the office and pretend to be from the BI’s top management, often requesting cellphone load and other small favors,” he stated.

The scammer would call BI offices through their landlines, and request for the “head of office”. Once through, they would pretend to be a top BI official, and claim that they would be visiting the area. “The scammer would then start demanding favors, including sending load to his mobile number,” he added. “What these scammers don’t realize is that our office heads are immigration officers, hence they have been trained to spot inconsistencies and conduct verifications,” he shared.

Morente recounted that said modus is a recurring scheme, often targeting newly-appointed office heads of the Bureau.

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BI warns public of scammers pretending to be officials

Meanwhile, Morente welcomed the arrest of an alleged fixer who pretended to be an immigration employee.

“We have received information that an employee of an accredited travel agency who allegedly pretended to be a BI employee was arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Anti-Fraud Division,” said Morente. “We welcome this arrest and we thank our partners from the NBI for helping us eliminate scammers and fixers,” he added.

The BI earlier warned of online fixers pretending to be BI employees, scamming unwitting foreign nationals, as well as fake immigration officers soliciting money for supposed escort services.

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“Do not deal with fixers,” warned Morente. “These are scammers that are only out to deceive you. In most cases, these scammers would leave you behind once they have received the payment from you. Do not deal with them. Information about our processes including fees and procedures can be found online in our website, and we have made ways to streamline our transactions to make them easier for the transacting public,” he added.

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