MANILA, Philippines — Television host Boy Abunda called out a series of fake articles mentioning that he was involved in cryptocurrency, all of which were scams.
Boy began the April 17 episode of his show "Fast Talk with Boy Abunda" by bringing up an article about a supposedly deleted interview with actress Max Collins on the show.
The fake article said that Boy and Max went back and forth on air because the host allegedly couldn't believe Max's sudden rise in wealth, which was due to investing in Bitcoin.
The story went on to say Max convinced Boy to set up an account while on air, and the host saw an investment go up within 30 minutes.
"Nililinaw ko ngayon.... hindi ito totoo. This is fake, this is a big lie," Boy said adamantly, adding the fake article popped up on crypto.com and used the interface of a major Philippine news outlet.
Boy mentioned that the legal team of GMA Network is now studying what options to pursue against the scam website.
The host continued by noting the recent incident wasn't the first time he or his show was caught in the middle of a scam, bringing up another article where he allegedly criticized Miss Universe Philippines 2023 Michelle Dee, but the link redirected to a cryptocurrency website.
Before, there was another fake interview Boy supposedly had with former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, to the point she called up Boy out of alarm given the number of people who contacted her regarding the issue.
Other fake interviews such scams claimed Boy conducted about Bitcoin were with fellow host Vice Ganda, actor-politician Robin Padilla, journalist Rico Hizon, Megaworld's Andrew Tan, and Jollibee's Tony Tan Caktiong.
Outside of cryptocurrency, Boy also mentioned fake articles where he allegedly discussed with doctors Willie Ong and Alvin Francisco about new medicines for hypertension, and the host reiterated all the stories were not true.
"May pattern mga fake news na ito. Lahat ito ay malaking kalokohan, puro kasinungalingan, puro scam," Boy said, calling the moves alarming and extremely dangerous.
Boy posited that such scams persist because they likely succeed, given that many people want to make a lot of money, so he advised everyone to verify the information by cross-checking their official accounts.