The Bureau of Immigration (BI) warned the public on Saturday not to fall for scammers who run phony websites and demand money in order to register on eTravel.

With the upcoming long weekend and the expected influx of travelers, the BI urges the traveling public to exercise more vigilance to avoid falling victim to online scams.

The eTravel platform registration is completely free, as BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco emphasized. In order to prevent falling for scams, he advised passengers to register exclusively via the official government website at https://etravel.gov.ph.

"We advise the traveling public to be cautious and register exclusively on the official government website or through the eGovPH application. The eTravel registration process is absolutely free of charge," Commissioner Tansingco said.

The BI chief also encouraged individuals encountering fraudulent websites or entities demanding online payments to report them immediately to the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) via their hotline at 1326.

This warning also comes in response to reports of passengers being duped by fake eTravel websites, which allegedly charge between P3,000 and P5,000 in supposed fees.

eTravel, which was introduced earlier this year, integrates border control, health surveillance, and economic data analysis into a single platform for collecting data from travelers as they arrive and depart the country. A number of government organizations are involved in the collaborative effort, including the Department of Transportation (DOTr), the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and the Department of Tourism (DOT).

The BI shared the deployment of eTravel kiosks in major international airports, as provided by airport authorities and the DICT.

“We are thankful to our partners in government for providing these kiosks for the use of the traveling public,” Tansingco said.