Friday, March 29, 2024

NPC monitoring proliferation of ‘impostor’ accounts on Facebook

The National Privacy Commission (NPC) said on Sunday, June 7, that it is keeping a close eye on the sudden appearance of “impostor” accounts on Facebook.

“While the extent of these incidents is not yet fully determined at this time, we have been receiving reports from different sectors, mostly coming from academic institutions,” Privacy Commissioner Raymund Liboro said in a statement.

Liboro said the privacy agency has already brought the issue to the attention of Facebook. “According to Clare Amador, Facebook representative in the Philippines, they are already investigating this particular matter as well as other information on unauthorized Facebook accounts,” he said.

Liboro said he has instructed the local office of the social media giant to report its significant findings as soon as these become available. “In addition, we urge everyone to report alleged impostor accounts to Facebook through https://www.facebook.com/help/report,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said it does not condone the acts and is strongly against the abuses on social media and other online platforms. 

“The DICT is working closely with the National Privacy Commission, and has drawn the attention of Facebook Philippines regarding this matter. Facebook Philippines has assured the DICT that they are currently investigating the reports of suspicious activity on their platform, and are taking actions on any account that they find to be in violation of their policies,” it said.

“The DICT has also instructed its Cyber Security Bureau to actively coordinate with law enforcement agencies and provide the necessary technical assistance on information sharing and analysis needed to address this matter.”

The agency issued the following recommendations to prevent becoming a victim of the scheme:

  1. Set your Facebook account to private.
  2. Review and configure your Facebook security settings. Make sure that you utilize all the security features available, including the two-factor authentication (2FA).
  3. Report the fake/dummy account to Facebook.

How to report fake/dummy accounts to Facebook

  1. Locate the fake Facebook account then click the (…) button.
  2. Choose the “Find Support” or “Report Profile” option.
  3. Choose the “Pretending to be Someone” option. Proceed to select “Me” if the account is pretending to be you, or “A Friend” if it’s pretending to be one of your friends. Then click Next.

Note: If you are reporting for a friend, make sure to indicate the profile being pretended to be.

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