MANILA, March 12 -- The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday cautioned anew netizens against providing personal information online and clicking malicious website links.

This came after the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) logged 178 cases of "hijack profile" or identity theft cases from November 2023 to February 2024 - 89 of which or 50 percent were logged in February alone.

A "hijack profile scam" entails unauthorized access to a specific social media account.

Once infiltrated, the perpetrator typically leverages this access to send messages to the account owner's contacts, often requesting urgent financial assistance under false pretenses.

The scammer uses various tactics to gain access to the profile, such as phishing, hackin...