Beware of This Online Banking Scam

BDO Unibank advises the banking public to follow this simple caution: if you didn’t join any contest, you didn’t win anything. Don’t fall for offers that are too good to be true because they most probably are not true.

Scammers are calling account holders informing them about a prize they allegedly won and encouraging them to open an Online Banking account to redeem it. These scammers will be offering their help and asking the victim to activate it using a code they will be providing.

However, the Bank bared that this supposed offer to “help” or “assist” account holders in opening an online banking account is just a modus by scammers to get direct access to their would-be victims’ bank accounts.

BDO warns clients that if they have an online banking account, scammers may try to take over their account through email or phone scams by offering a higher daily transfer limit, stronger account security, or other enticements.

“They will trick you into allowing a third-party account to be enrolled to your Online Banking account through ATM activation,” the Bank said.

Once this is done, BDO explained that scammers will be able to fully take over the victims’ accounts and steal their money.

“Don’t instantly fall for promising rewards or other enticements that will lead you to share your account details to others,” the Bank stressed. “BDO will never ask you to activate your Online Banking account via ATM to claim rewards or upgrade your account/ATM. Also, do not let others assist you in opening an online banking account or activate it via ATM.”

“ATM activation is required only when account holders initiate the Online Banking or third-party account enrollment themselves,” the Bank added.