Imposter pages for popular Philippine footwear brand mislead online
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on April 26, 2023 at 06:24
- 3 min read
- By Lucille SODIPE, AFP Philippines
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One Facebook page named "GIBI SHOES - PH" posted more than 30 images of footwear on March 27 alongside the caption: "Buy 1 take 1 FREE Original GIBI Sandals".
"The best quality sandals in the market. Gift yourself or your love (sic) ones with this (sic) elegant sandals. LIMITED STOCKS Message us now! FREE SHIPPING AND [CASH ON DELIVERY]".
The post was a paid advertisement on Facebook and received almost 5,000 interactions -- likes, shares and comments.
GIBI SHOES, founded in 1984, became one of the top businesses in Marikina City, a suburb in Manila known as the centre of the Philippine shoe industry (archived links here, here and here).
Comments on the false posts suggested social media users believed the shoe adverts were genuine.
"Please send a price list. Thanks", one user asked.
"Is size 41 available? How much please?" another wrote.
Similar Facebook adverts here, here and here also promoted what they claimed were "original" GIBI products.
But Genevieve Sy, the company's head of marketing, told AFP that the company is "in no way connected to these pages".
"Constant reminders have been posted for everyone's vigilance not to entertain, or transact with these scammers. Be careful and do not engage with these fraudulent pages," she said.
Sy shared copies of statements that the company has issued multiple times this year, warning customers about the scams.
"We don't do: Facebook selling, Buy 1 Take 1 offers, Free shipping or COD (cash on delivery) thru (sic) unofficial store, product or store vouchers, partner store authorization letter", GIBI SHOES first said in a February 2 post (archived link).
The post also listed the footwear brand's official online stores, as well as its official social media pages.
On April 17, it shared the names of 23 fraudulent Facebook pages it said were claiming to be GIBI or affiliated with the company (archived here).
"Please make sure to transact/purchase authentic Gibi only from legitimate outlets," the post read.
A review of GIBI SHOES' original Facebook page shows it was created in 2009 (archived link).
The imposter page was originally created in December 2022 under the name "Ongpin Fashion", its history shows.
Its name was later changed to "GIBI SHOES - PH" on March 27.
Below is a screenshot comparison of the page transparency sections of the false page (left) and the real GIBI SHOES page (right):
Further keyword searches found Facebook posts from social media users who appear to have been misled by the imposter site.
"This is a lesson for me not to get fooled easily. Poor Gibi shoes. (This page) used photos of their products", one said in a Facebook post on April 8, which included an image of footwear in a screenshot of an online exchange with the false page.
Another wrote on April 14, "I ordered shoes. It cost P1,299 ($23). When I opened the box, they delivered something else. The shoes look cheap, like the ones sold on the sidewalks."
"I asked the seller if the shoes delivered were authentic GIBI SHOES... they suddenly stopped replying and deactivated their Facebook account, I can't find them anymore. I hope nobody else will be scammed by these types of sellers."
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