Online scammers are working double time to rob people of hard-earned money weeks before Christmas, the Philippine National Police warned yesterday.

Lt. Michelle Sabino, spokesperson of the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group, reminded the public to be cautious in making online transactions, including those involving crypto investments.

Hackers had also been reported to be preying on social media account holders like those on Facebook to dupe the friends of people whose accounts they've taken over.

"Cryptocurrency investment scam is a new modus [operandi] of scammers now. They invite investors to invest money using (fake) crypto (flatforms)," Sabino said.

The PNP officer said people who use digital wallets are especially vulnerable to scammers.

For fake crypto, investors are enticed to take advantage of windfalls or big profits over a short period of time.

"Once you start to withdraw, you won't be able to get your money. That's how you know you have been a victim of a crypto investment scam," Sabino explained.

The modus involves downloading crypto apps which, when installed, will require uploaders to cash in on their investments in digital wallets.

Hackers active on FB, on the other hand, usually borrow money from people who have very little clue that the accounts of friends and loved ones had been stolen.

For the more sophisticated crypto scam, Lt. Col Robert Bongayon, chief of the Cyber Financial Crime Unit of the PNP

Anti-Cybercrime Group, said scammers even resort to faking the primary and secondary licenses of companies listed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Usually, the primary and secondary licenses being shown by the scammers to prove their legitimacy do not match with each other. This is how people get scammed," Bongayon said.

Scammers also use bogus certificates from the Department of Trade and Industry, he warned.