Vice President Jejomar C. Binay on Monday renewed his call for the public not to fall prey to text scams bearing his name after a fresh spate of texts messages informing mobile subscribers that they had won housing units from Binay circulated over the weekend.

            “I would like to reiterate that Office of the Vice President (OVP) is not offering any raffle contest, nor have I authorized any foundation to use my name for any purpose. These text messages are scams,” Binay said.

            He urged those who received text messages to not engage in any transaction and report these messages to the OVP or the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

            “The people sending these messages are unscrupulous individuals who pretend to be government officials in order to swindle people out of their money," the Vice President said.

            Circulating text messages include:

            “D/JEJOMAR BINAY, FOUNDATION OF THE PHILS., nforming u dat ur cel# Won!, in Pabahay ni ‘BINAY’2012!, Worth,P870,000,000.00, DTI-NCR permit#3828s12, Pls.call me now!!.. I’m Atty. Vic A. Villar.”

            The NBI had previously arrested a man who was posing as the Vice President and tried to extort P300,000 from business magnate Lucio Tan.

            The man posing as Binay was allegedly requesting P300,000 as donation for the JC Binay Foundation to be deposited at a Banco de Oro savings account.

            "Huwag po natin hayaang mabiktima tayo ng mga manlolokong ito na nagpapanggap para lamang makakuha ng perang pinaghirapan ng iba. Kailanman ay hindi ko ginamit ang aking puwesto upang humingi ng pera," Binay had stressed.