BY AARON RECUENCO
Three fake Facebook accounts using the name of Philippine National Police chief Gen. Camilo Pancratius Cascolan, have been shut down for allegedly engaging in illegal money-making activities.
Brig. Gen. Marvin Pepino, director of the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group, said they requested Facebook to take down the bogus accounts based on the investigation and verification they did in the past days.
“We have traced these poser accounts to several cases of online swindling and estafa, mostly solicitation of funds from unsuspecting victims purportedly for social welfare and humanitarian projects,” said Pepino.
The three Facebook poser accounts are the “Camilo Pancratius Pikoy Cascolan”, “Camilo P Cascolan”, “Camilo Cascolan”.
“We already received a communication from Facebook’s Law Enforcement Outreach Manager, Rob Abrams, confirming that Facebook has disabled all three accounts,” said Pepino.
Quoting the result of their investigation, Pepino said the three Facebook accounts are misrepresenting the Chief PNP by enticing Facebook users to donate funds purportedly to purchase computer tablets for students in urban poor communities for online classes.
He said they already sent subpoenas to four people who were all directed to appear before the Regional Field Units of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) for ongoing investigations into fake Facebook accounts using the identity of the Chief PNP in online scam activities.
“This joint investigation seeks to further develop facts and new inputs to identify the personalities behind online scam operations using these bogus Facebook accounts,” said Pepino.
He said those behind these fake Facebook accounts may face criminal charges for violation of Section 4 (b) 3 of Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, for identity theft; and Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code for Swindling or Estafa (Online Scam). (Aaron Recuenco)
