Suspected Chinese companies pretending to be American or European enterprises have been allegedly recruiting active and former members of the Philippine military, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said on Friday.

Interviewed on Dobol B TV, DICT Undersecretary for Cybersecurity and Upskilling Jeffrey Ian Dy said these firms have been offering their target Filipino recruits part-time jobs as analysts online.

“Sasabihin nila they came from Western [countries, that] they are organizations from parang European or American,” Dy said.

(They will say that they came from Western countries, that they are organizations from, like, European or American countries.)

“Pero kapag tinignan mo, meron kasing facility sa internet na ang tawag WHOIS para malaman mo kung kanino registered yung mga domain name, ‘yung pangalan ng website, makikita mo na naka-register sila mga companies na Chinese companies,” he added.

(There is a facility on the internet called WHOIS that allows users to find out who registered the domain names or the name of the website. When you check through that, you will see that they are registered as Chinese companies.)

Hundreds of dollars per hour are being offered for the jobs, according to Dy.

The DICT first monitored the online recruitment of these companies as early as December 2023.

As the issue involves the military, Dy said the DICT informed the Department of National Defense (DND) and the intelligence sector about the matter.

The Facebook account of one of the concerned websites has been shut down, Dy said.

The DICT has yet to contact the Chinese companies involved, he added.

“Ang advice na lang namin siguro, siyempre, mag-ingat na lang din ‘yung ating mga military personnel na puwedeng masilaw na mag-apply,” Dy said.

(Our advice is, of course, for our military personnel who may be enticed by the offer to be cautious.) — VDV, GMA Integrated News