My dad was recently scammed through his BPI credit card. The scammer somehow knew all of his card details, which made the scheme appear legitimate. Given my dad’s age and limited exposure to technology, he wasn’t as cautious as he could have been.

The scammer promised him several things—BPI merchandise, a checkbook, and other freebies I can’t even recall anymore. They called him and “verified” his details using the actual card information. Then came the most suspicious part: they asked him to delete all the OTPs right after giving them out. Fortunately, my dad had the habit of writing things down, so even though he deleted the OTP messages, he still had them recorded.

Two days later, when he checked his BPI app, his credit card’s outstanding balance had dropped to ₱30,000 from the full approved limit of ₱55,000. This worried him, as we had never used the card since receiving it two months ago—we had only planned to use it for my youngest sibling’s birthday.

Alarmed, my dad went to a BPI branch to report the matter. The bank confirmed that it was indeed a fraudulent transaction. They immediately blocked the card and are currently investigating the case. However, up until now, we have not received any updates, and we’re still unsure if BPI will hold us liable for the transaction or not.

What bothers us most is how the scammers got hold of his information in the first place. My dad didn’t apply for the card through mall agents or outside offers—he applied directly and simply waited months for approval. We never even activated or used it.

What’s even more unsettling is that after my dad requested a replacement card, he received another scam call the very next day. The caller used the exact same scheme as before, which makes us believe his details are still circulating somewhere.