A phishing website has falsely claimed that television and film actress Angel Locsin tested positive for COVID-19.
In its April 26 post, the dubious site RANDOMNAMES.CLUB reported:
Pagkatapos ng Kaniyang Initiative Para Sa C0VID19, Angel Locsin Nagpositibo sa Naturang Sakit (After her initiative for COVID-19, Angele Locsin tests positive of the disease)!
Locsin has not been infected with the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19.
In fact, GMA News Online reported on the same day the fake news came out that Locsin and her fiancé, film producer Neil Arce, tested negative for COVID-19.
The network said Locsin, one of the most prominent fundraisers for the country’s fight against the ongoing pandemic, shared the good news on her Instagram Story on April 25, which showed a photo of their two test kits bearing the negative results.
The actress wrote “Covid free,” GMA News Online said.
The same photo of the test kits was uploaded April 25 to her verified Facebook page Angel Locsin. The status update reads:
After setting up tents in numerous hospitals nationwide, Angel Locsin and Neil Arce are COVID-19 free as they both tested negative 🙏🏼
Locsin’s latest tweet on her official Twitter account was on the evening of April 25, two days after her 35th birthday.
A day earlier, she posted on her Instagram account that her COVID-19 initiative "Unitent We Stand PH" had raised P11.35 million, set up 246 tents and helped 135 hospitals in 19 days.
In claiming that Locsin has been infected, Randomnames.club posted a video with GMA News’ Atom Araullo anchoring the program "Stand for Truth" and a photo inset of an ill-looking Locsin on its thumbnail.
Locsin’s photo came from the Oct. 12, 2013 episode of “Maalaala Mo Kaya” in which she essayed the role of Miriam, a patient diagnosed with an extreme case of tuberculosis. Paulo Avelino played the role of Stuart, her nurse, in that episode.
This is not the first time that RANDOMNAMES.CLUB has peddled fake news.
Last month, shortly after the Luzon-wide quarantine took effect, the site circulated the fake news that President Rodrigo Duterte was giving all Social Security System members a P20,000 emergency assistance. FactRakers debunked the claim (P20,000 per SSS member to cope with COVID-19 crisis a hoax).
The Department of Information and Communications Technology has warned the public against clicking Randomnames.club’s post on the bogus allowance. It said in an advisory:
Since March 18, 2020, a post entitled “P20,000 Para sa Lahat ng SSS Pangtawid” has been circulating on Facebook. Clicking it directs the user to RANDOMNAMES.CLUB, which is a phishing site, and proceeds to repost the same link on user’s Facebook wall.
A phishing website is a bogus site that tricks people into believing they’re on a legitimate website and tries to steal account details or confidential information, according to Google and Yahoo.
The fake news about Locsin has been shared by 23 Facebook groups with a combined following of 3.7 million. The number of interactions has reached at least 3,000.
References
ABS-CBN Entertainment. (2013, Octlober 11). MMK 10.12.13 : TB Patient [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukk4NizuI2o
Angel Locsin and Neil Arce test negative for COVID-19. (2020, April 26). GMA News. Retrieved from https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/showbiz/chikaminute/735654/angel-locsin-and-neil-arce-test-negative-for-covid-19/story/
Department of Information and Communications Technology - DICT. (2020, March 23). Cybersecurity Advisory on SSS Emergency Bonus Phishing Attack. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/DICTgovph/posts/2839472699481171
FactRakers. (2020, March 19). P20,000 per SSS member to cope with COVID-19 crisis a hoax. Retrieved from https://www.factrakers.org/post/p20-000-per-sss-member-to-cope-with-covid-19-crisis-a-hoax
Google safe browsing. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.google.com/safebrowsing/static/faq.html
How can I identify a phishing website or email? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://safety.yahoo.com/Security/PHISHING-SITE.html
Locsin, A. [AngelLocsin]. (2020, April 25). After setting up tents in numerous hospitals nationwide, Angel Locsin and Neil Arce are COVID-19 free as they both tested negative [Facebook status update]. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/AngelLocsin/posts/10157443494692153
Locsin, A. [therealangellocsin]. (2020, April 24). To help solve the overcrowding in hospitals, #UniTENTweStandPH was launched, a campaign YOU all have made possible through 135 hospitals nationwide , 246 tents and PHP 11,359,856.89 in total in just nineteen days… [Instagram]. Retrieved from https://www.instagram.com/p/B_WmcTuFUO6/?utm_source=ig_embed
Locsin, A. [143redangel]. https://twitter.com/143redangel
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