VERA Files
Several videos on Facebook (FB) are claiming that individuals who register with the Philippine Identification System (PhilSys) will be eligible for cash assistance. This is fake.
Published on March 12, these Reels continue to gain traction this week. With the logo of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to legitimize the post, the following text is flashed throughout the short videos’ run:
“P5,000.00 CASH ASSISTANCE LAHAT NG MAY NATIONAL ID (P5,000.00 cash assistance to all who have a national ID). APPLY ONLINE!”
The videos show a one-minute clip spliced from the 2021 interview of celebrity couple Sarah Geronimo and Matteo Guidicelli, who are PhilSys ambassadors.
All the posts include in their captions a link directing social media users to a website that asks for personal information to receive their cash assistance.
This is a scam. The PSA has warned the public against entertaining these cash aid offers online.
In a March 13 FB post, the agency stated that “being registered to PhilSys and/or having the national ID does not automatically make an individual eligible” for any government cash benefit program.
Guidicelli also disowned the circulating post in a brief March 11 tweet, calling it a “big scam.”
The erroneous posts emerged days after the PSA and Department of Social Welfare and Development partnered up to help facilitate the registration of beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program in the PhilSys.
FB groups Landbank 4ps update all region (created on Dec. 29, 2023), DSWD NEWS AND UPDATE (Dec. 21, 2020) and FB page DSWD pantawid program all region (Aug. 3, 2022) published the scams, collectively garnering over 1,900 reactions, 2,500 comments and 600 shares.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
