The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) warned the public against scammers using its official hotline to send malicious links claiming to offer government flood relief aid.
The government agency on Monday, July 28, warned the public about a text scam claiming the recipient had received “ayuda” or financial aid from the government following recent flooding in Metro Manila and other areas.
Parts of the archipelago were affected this month by the southwest monsoon (habagat) and Tropical Cyclones Crising (Wipha), Dante (Francisco) and Emong (Co-May), which brought intense rains that caused severe flooding and landslides, as well as strong winds that damaged infrastructure.
“Mag-ingat at maging alerto,” the NDRRMC said in a Facebook post, sharing a screengrab of the fake text message using their number.
“Kasalukuyang kumakalat ang mga mapanlinlang na text message na nagsasabing maaaring makatanggap ng ayuda o pera mula sa pamahalaan gamit ang pangalan o numero ng NDRRMC na may kahina-hinalang link,” the council added.
“Huwag pindutin ang mga link na ito dahil ang numero ng NDRRMC ay para sa mga abiso at babalang pang sakuna lamang,” it continued.
The council also advised those seeking government aid or assistance to refer to the official social media accounts of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).
Meanwhile, the text scam imitates the format of the council when sending heavy rainfall warnings and other alerts concerning earthquakes and other disasters. It reads:
NDRRMC (28Jul25) You received P500.00 from DSWD Emergency Cash Transfer (flood relief) via GCash. Please check your balance or update via https://bit.ly/m/GCash-web
A Filipino also warned others about the text scam by sharing a screenshot of their inbox, which showed both legitimate NDRRMC alerts and a fake message claiming they had received “flood relief” from the government.
“Beware: NDRRMC line was also tampered by scammers asking for GCash account,” a Pinoy said in the Reddit community “r/Philippines.”
“Naka-recieve din ako ng ganito kanina. Grabe, ano. For sure, meron nabiktima niyan,” another Redditor commented.
Others expressed disappointment at how scammers were able to infiltrate official government numbers.
“Says a lot about the security of the government infrastructure,” a Reddit user wrote.
An Instagram user also claimed to have received three text scam messages using the NDRRMC’s official line.
“Kayo din po may message na natatanggap thru text?” he wrote on Tuesday, July 29.
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The NDRRMC is mandated to send text message alerts during disasters at regular intervals under the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act.
With the help of the National Telecommunications Commission and private mobile service providers, the council is tasked to alert the public about natural disasters and calamities via text messages.
The alerts are supposed “to prevent injuries, destruction and loss of lives and property.”
The law mandates that individuals in or near affected areas must receive these alerts
Meanwhile, text hijacking is a tactic used by scammers to make messages appear as though they come from official numbers, even when they contain red flags such as poor grammar or overly casual language.
The government said scammers trick recipients by sending messages with malicious links designed to access their accounts or credit card information without authorization.
According to a telecommunications firm, these fraudsters can fool people by using fake cell towers to send text scams and use legitimate names of entities as the sender’s name.
Authorities advise the public to avoid clicking on links in messages and to carefully scrutinize any texts they receive.
Earlier this month, Filipinos raised awareness about text scams using GCash’s official number, noting the messages’ overly informal tone.
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