LBC Express, GCash and CIMB Bank

4:49 p.m. of february 28, i received the following SMS from LBC Express:

"Your GCash has been used to pay for an LBC Express Cash on Delivery. File a dispute by logging in our portal. <https link>"

i did not click the link.
the SMS itself was already suspicious.
the link made it doubly so.
the sender of the SMS was supposed to be LBC Express.
the link the user is being asked to click is a "ph-gcash" domain.

9:29 p.m., i received the following SMS also from LBC Express:

"Ka-LBC, Please do NOT click on any links received via SMS. We are currently investigating this matter with our third-party service provider. Stay safe!"

interestingly enough, GCash was "temporarily unavailable" when i was trying to log in multiple times from 8:29 p.m. to past midnight.  (i was trying to log in for something else, not because of the LBC Express SMS.)  unavailability was "due to the on-going service maintenance."
8:29 p.m. e-wallet app downtime seems too early for standard systems maintenance.

anyway, it was just in the GCash app where i could not log in.  i still was able to do ShopeePay cash ins from my GCash wallet through the shopee app.

i did successful cash ins 12:12 a.m., 12:22 a.m. and 12:51 a.m. of march 1.  (hehe...  yup, i was awake.  shopee has limited redemption 20% cashback vouchers midnight to 2 a.m. on tuesdays.)

this morning, i was already able to log in to the GCash app.  i, however, could not access my CIMB Bank account from the GSave icon in the GCash app.

my CIMB Bank account remained accessible from CIMB Bank's own app.
from the GCash app, however, the following message is displayed when i click GSave:

"Something went wrong.

It seems that we cannot process your request at the moment.  We're sorry for the inconvenience.  Please try again at a later time."

it was like that from morning up to past 5:00 p.m.
when i tried again at 8:21 p.m., the GSave functionality was back.

i don't know whether these are isolated cases or they piece together.

i'm documenting my experience as a heads up to others and as possible inputs to troubleshooting and investigation.