The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) is alerting the public to a dangerous rise in “spoofing”—a deceptive tactic where cybercriminals impersonate government agencies and public officials to spread disinformation and harvest sensitive data.
The warning comes after a spike in reports involving high-level “identity spoofing”, aimed at manipulating public opinion and framing government leaders using the messaging application Signal.
Spoofing is a high-tech masquerade, the CICC said in a statement Feb. 10. “Attackers manipulate email headers, caller IDs, or create ‘mirror’ social media profiles to appear as a trusted source, target to spread ‘official-looking’ false information to incite confusion, and lure victims into fake conversations to create fraudulent evidence against public figures.”
The CICC Cybercrime Complaint Center said it handled 70 high-impact spoofing incidents in 2025, with “smishing”, or SMS-based spoofing, as preferred weapon of choice at 43 percent, unauthorized transactions, 22 percent, and illegal access, 21 percent.
The CICC reminds the public that legitimate government entities will rarely, if ever, ask for sensitive personal info or urgent payments via random text or social media.
It stressed red flags to watch for, including the “urgency” trap, or messages claiming your account is “blocked” or threatening “legal action” if you don’t click a link immediately; the URL mimic, with official Philippine government sites always ending in .gov.ph, not in .com, .net, or .org; and the spelling test.
CICC acting executive director, undersecretary Renato Paraiso, emphasized that technology alone cannot solve the problem, and called for a unified front between the government and private sectors.
“The best approach is a ‘whole-of-society’ approach,” Paraiso stressed. “We are encouraging various sectors to self-regulate with the intervention and guidance of the government. They help us craft regulations, and we help them protect their users.” ||
