FILIPINOS URGED TO BEWARE OF CRYPTO CURRENCY SCAMMERS

Filipinos have been warned of the machinations of scammers purporting to sell the supposed crypto currency that is backed by the Philippine government.

These scammers have ostensibly victimized citizens who were enticed into buying into bitcoins backed by fake news about a platform called “Bitcoin Lifestyle” and citing the outright lie about the President endorsing the said cryptocurrency.

The warning was issued by the Department of Finance as it learned about the bogus crypto currency investment scheme where investors are supposed to start generating income with the cryptocurrency.

“There is no such effort by the government,” Finance assistant secretary Antonio Joselito Lambino II said.

“We categorically deny that there is such a move, and warn the public against potentially harmful financial transactions with those behind the article,” added Lambino, who is DOF spokesman and head of its Strategy, Economics and Results Group (SERG).

The fake news also suggested that “The Government of Philippines asserts that tax revenues (from Bitcoin Lifestyle) will be huge and will benefit all citizens, and most of it will go to the financing of Philippines’s retirement and to counteract the crisis of learning support services.”

“This is false. We urge the public to exercise caution in their investments, and to keep their expectations of returns realistic,” the Lambino said.

Lambino also urged the public to report similarly suspicious investment schemes to the Enforcement and Investor Protection Department of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with telephone number 8818-5704.

“We warn unscrupulous individuals and groups attempting to lure the public into unauthorized and deceptive investment schemes that the government is monitoring the public space for such schemes, and will take appropriate legal and regulatory action,” he added.