Facebook took down three poser accounts allegedly posing as PNP Chief.
Facebook recently disabled three poser accounts allegedly posing as Philippine National Police (PNP) Chief Police Gen. Camilo Cascolan, the agency disclosed on Sunday.
This, as the PNP said in a statement that police cybercrime investigators traced accounts in question to some existing cases of estafa and online swindling — including solicitation of funds from unsuspecting victims in a form of social welfare and humanitarian projects.
PNP Spokesperson Police Col. Ysmael Yu said in an earlier statement in late September that they welcomed well-meaning messages and posts on social media that assisted them in reaching out to the public.
However, Yu added, they won’t allow the name of the Philippine National Police and its officials to be misused for shady activities.
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PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group Director Police Brig. Gen Marvin Pepino said that three Facebook accounts had been identified under the account names “Camilo P Cascolan”, “Camilo Pancratius Pikoy Cascolan”, and “Camilo Cascolan”, all misrepresenting the page as owned by the Chief PNP.
The PNP-ACG said in its statement that it had already initiated investigation and case build-up on the activities of the poser account owners and requested Facebook to take those pages down.
Pepino also disclosed that four persons of interest had been sent subpoenas in order to appear before regional field units of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group of the Philippine National Police in relation to those accounts.
According to Pepino, those poser accounts had been active in social networks alluring Facebook users to donate funds purportedly to procure computer tablets for students in urban poor communities for online classes.
“Those behind these fake Facebook accounts may face criminal charges for violation of Sec. 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)”, Pepino said.
Moreover, Pepino said that the PNP-ACG promptly received a communication from Rob Abrams, Facebook’s Law Enforcement Outreach Manager, confirming that Facebook had took down all three accounts.
Prior to this, Facebook took down fake pages and accounts allegedly linked to the Philippine police and the Philippine military due to coordinated inauthentic behavior.
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