The Bureau of Immigration warned all the traveling public on Wednesday afternoon against scammers who operate websites that charge and collect fees as purported payments for registering in the government’s electronic travel declaration system, known as eTravel.

It was emphasized by BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco that passengers should be cautious of dishonest individuals who demand money from them through these fake or bogus websites because it is free to register on the eTravel platform.

“The eTravel registration process is absolutely free of charge. We, therefore, advise the traveling public to register only on the government’s official website at https://etravel.gov.ph,” Tansingco said.

He urged the public to beware of the said fraudulent websites or entities that require any form of online payment and to report them to the cybercrime investigation and coordination center via its website at https://cicc.gov.ph/report/.

The BI chief issued this warning following reports of passengers at the airports who claim they have already registered on the eTravel platform and “paid” the supposed fees that were charged to them.

Amounts allegedly collected from the passengers amount to between PHP 3,000 and PHP 5,000 when converted to pesos, as the fees charged by the scammers are usually in US dollars.

According to BI officers at the airport, many travelers at Ninoy Aquino International Airport were shocked to hear that they had to register in eTravel because the digital QR code they had provided could not be retrieved in the system.

“It is only when they encounter our officers at the airport that these passengers will realize they have been duped by these fraudsters and scammers on the internet,” Tansingco said. 

 eTravel is the only platform used to gather data about travelers arriving and departing the country, and it was released earlier this year. It sets up integrated surveillance for health, economic data analysis, and border control.

The Departments of Tourism, Information and Communications Technology, Bureau of Quarantine, Bureau of Customs, Department of Health, Department of Transportation, Department of Justice, and National Privacy Commission are all involved in this joint project.The project did away with paper-based arrival and departure cards as well as the quarantine form. It was commended for using a system similar to that in other modern countries, which reduced the need for passengers to rely solely on paper documents.