MANILA - The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on Friday warned the public against fraudsters posing as charities and soliciting donations for pandemic relief.

Cyber criminals are riding on COVID-19 donation drives and creating fake charities to get personal information, online banking user names and passwords from donors, the BSP said.

Consumers should avoid malicious links that lead to phishing sites, the BSP said. Phishing is the theft of personal data online through fake emails and web links.

"Sa kabila ng mga donation drives at charities na naghahangad na makatulong sa ating mga kababayan na apektado ng COVID-19 pandemic, ang mga cyber criminals ay patuloy rin sa paggawa ng mga pekeng charities or beneficiaries na may kaugnayan dito," the BSP said.

(While donation drives and charities continue to raise funds to help those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, cyber criminals also continue to make fake charities or beneficiaries related to it)

SCAM ALERT!

Pinapaalalahanan ng Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ang publiko na maging maingat at mapanuri#FraudAlert#ScamAlert#CyberSecurity#ThinkBeforeYouClick#COVID19 pic.twitter.com/EOvHtS29kO

— Bangko Sentral (@BangkoSentral) April 17, 2020

The country's largest bank BDO Unibank earlier flagged a "verify account" scam as millions of Filipinos are stuck in their homes during the coronavirus lockdown.

• BDO flags 'verify account' scam on e-mail