Singer Ogie Alcasid announced that he is not endorsing a Japanese air conditioner and cautioned his fans to be wary of such online advertisement.
The OPM artist shared a screengrab of a Facebook post that uses his name and image to deceive people into thinking he was supporting a “smart air conditioner” from Mitsuki.
The post claimed that Ogie had lined up for six hours to buy the air conditioner and suggested that people order it online instead.
It also showed an edited photo of the singer holding the product.
Ogie flagged the post and warned the public that he was not endorsing it.
“Hindi ko po ito ini-e-endorso. Huwag po kayo [magpaloko],” he wrote on the X (formerly Twitter) platform on March 14.
To note, Ogie’s only Facebook page has a verified badge. It has a different picture as well.
Environmental advocate David D’Angelo, a former 2022 senatorial bet, also warned the public about the scam using the singer’s name and picture to endorse the product.
D’Angelo also provided a link to a fact-check report from VERA Files about what he called a “fraudulent ad and scheme.”
“I am advising our kababayans to be very careful about such advertisements even on social media. Despite repeated reports of this scam, it was still being allowed to be advertised on the social media platform. Again, this is a scam and fraudulent campaign,” he wrote.
VERA Files’ report, published on May 17, 2023, cites that a scam used a Japanese air conditioner to “gather netizens’ personal information.”
It came across a Facebook post with a similar message, but the brand was “Mittsuta.”
“Mittsuta supposedly opened up an online website (japanmalesale8.online) after thousands lined up at an unspecified mall in Pasay City for the sale,” the report said.
“Not true. This fraudulent scheme was debunked by VERA Files Fact Check several times last year,” it added.
VERA Files said that the “Mittsuta” page posted two pictures — one had a false context while the other was altered.
“A cursory search yielded no official website for the alleged Mittsuta company. Instead, the search result showed similar circulating ads online using the name of the brand,” it reported.
“Other hoaxes have promoted the product under the same brand with a minor difference in spelling — ‘Mitsuta,'” the fact checker said.
VERA Files enumerated suggestions by the Philippine National Police for the public to avoid being scammed by such e-commerce posts.
They are advised to “research an unfamiliar product or brand,” “check if the phone numbers and addresses of store sites are genuine,” and to “look twice at URL and app names.”
