The UP Diliman Data Protection Office (DPO) on Thursday, Aug. 12, advised the UPD community against uploading photos of their COVID-19 vaccination cards on social media, saying the information could be used for nefarious purposes.

In an email sent to the UPD Information Office, the DPO said sharing the good news is understandable, “but we may be inadvertently sharing personal and sensitive personal information.”

Personal and sensitive personal information that may be contained in the card such as email addresses and Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (Philhealth) numbers can be used to gain access to social media and financial accounts, while forgers may use vaccination details to create fake vaccination cards to sell.

In 2016, a public school teacher became a victim of identity theft after posting a photo of his Professional Regulation Commission ID after passing the board exams. Unscrupulous hackers used the image to loan around ₱800,000 from banks in his name.

For more information on what data privacy really means and to learn tips on how to protect yourself, visit DPO’s website at https://privacy.upd.edu.ph/.