THE chief of the Public Information and Community Affairs Office (Picao) of the Province of Iloilo has denied sending mass text messages on a purported raffle draw supposedly conducted by his office with corresponding prizes.
The text message read: “Nagdaog ka sa raffle! Call me for details kun paano nyo ini makuha. From Iloilo Public Information and Community Affairs Officer Mr. Nereo Lujan.”
Lujan said he found out from some people who had received the text message that it was indeed his personal number, which he had been using since the late 1990s, that appeared as the sender.
Vehemently denying sending the message, Lujan said he must have been victimized by scammers with access to a technology known as SMS spoofing which disguises the actual sender by changing the caller ID of the mobile phone.
He pointed out that Picao, as a practice, does not prefix the office name with “Iloilo” as shown in the text message but only use “Public Information and Community Affairs Office” in all official communication.
“Clearly, this is a handiwork of people who wants to implicate my name in a supposed scam, thereby putting the blame on me for purposes known only to them,” Lujan said.
He has already reported the malicious act to the police and will also be seeking assistance from other government agencies to pin the suspects and clear his name.
Lujan said this incident is a cause for alarm as anybody might fall victim to scammers in the future. (PR)