Fake posts claiming scholarships are being offered by the Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK) have reappeared on Facebook (FB) groups as the academic year comes to an end on May 31.
The fabricated posts, which reemerged starting May 21, claim to offer varying amounts of cash assistance per year level:
LAND BANK SCHOLARSHIP 2024-2025
COLLEGE P 10,000.00
SENIOR HIGH P 9,500.00
HIGH SCHOOL P8,000.00
ELEMENTARY P7,500.00#LegitSince2006
PM ME DIRECTLY NOW
“Ang LANDBANK ay walang scholarship na ino-offer sa ngayon. Ang anumang cash assistance o scholarship program namin ay galing lamang sa official social media channels ng LANDBANK,” the government-owned bank warned in a May 22 advisory.
(The LANDBANK does not offer any scholarships as of now. Any cash assistance or scholarship programs from us only come from Land Bank’s official social media channels.)
The FB netizen behind the scam asks netizens to send a private message to supposedly avail of the ‘scholarship.’
LandBank advised netizens to report similar scams to their customer care hotline, (02) 8-405-7000 or 1-800-10-405-7000 (PLDT toll-free), or through their email address: [email protected].
Just last January, VERA Files Fact Check debunked the same scholarship scam (Read: Multiple FB posts share FAKE Landbank scholarship offers). Other scams using the name of government agencies also appeared recently (Read: PEKE ang posts tungkol sa DepEd na namimigay ng ayuda sa mga ga-graduate).
The fake scholarship calls appeared on FB groups Hana Fans, MEET YOUR SOULMATE FOREIGNER WITH FILIPINA, and HALAMANG GAMOT PARA SA LAHAT NG SAKIT, garnering a total of 252 interactions.
