Philippine authorities on April 18 warned Filipinos of an increase in phishing and other online fraud as more people take to the Internet to pay bills, bank and purchase groceries amid a lockdown due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The online transactions have helped many cope with the restrictions of the lockdown on the main island of Luzon, where the capital Manila is located and which is home to some 57 million people or more than half of the country's population.

But the cybercrime division of the National Bureau of Investigation and the central bank have reported "a 100% increase in phishing... and warned everyone to be cautious when it comes to [their] bank details," government official Karlo Nograles said.

Scammers usually pretend to be bank employees who ask for account details, while others claim to be members of charitable institutions seeking donations to help those affected by the lockdown, Nograles said.

"We encourage everyone to please double-check and verify these requests for donations," he said, adding that the public can report any suspicious requests to authorities.

Luzon, the fourth most densely populated island in the world, is under lockdown until April 30 as the government aims to contain the spread of Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coranavirus, in the country.

The Department of Health reported on Saturday that the Philippines had 209 new confirmed cases of Covid-19, bringing the national total to 6,087. The department also recorded 10 more mortalities, raising the death toll to 397, with 516 recoveries.

 - dpa