Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, vice chairperson of the Senate committees on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies & Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship, has fired the first shot against cybercriminals using old SIM cards with e-wallet accounts to scam people.
The senator recently filed Senate Resolution No. 217 asking the Senate to conduct an investigation into the alleged rampant loan and sale of mobile wallet accounts. The resolution also called on all relevant government agencies to come up with more effective measures to help protect the public from the unscrupulous activities of cybercriminals.
The senator said government agencies should now intervene in the practice of lending or selling SIM cards with verified e-wallet accounts like GCash or Maya.
He also noted the steadily increasing number of mobile wallet users in the country, with approximately nine million registered e-wallet accounts in the Philippines reported in 2017. Statista, a consumer data provider, says the number of registered users could still rise up to 7.7 million by 2025.
“While the use of mobile or e-wallets has provided tremendous benefits to many people such as ease of doing online transactions, especially during the pandemic, we also need to make sure that consumers are amply protected from harmful elements seeking dishonest gains through this channel,” the senator said in a statement.
In filing Senate Resolution No. 217, the senator argued that “valuable user information (that) these e-wallets contain can, in turn, be sold at a high price when resold to the dark web.”
SIM card registration pushed as crimes related to e-wallet use go up
The filing of the resolution comes amid revived calls for mandatory SIM card registration in the country, with reports of widespread SMiShing and scam text going viral on social media.
After former president Rodrigo Duterte vetoed the initial SIM card registration bill filed by Gatchalian in April, the bill has since been re-filed and has already received clearance from both chambers of the 19th Congress.
Gatchalian said online scammers usually use e-wallet accounts not registered under their names. “They are able to do this by using or buying SIM cards in the black market that are registered with e-wallets under people who sell or lend their identities,” his statement read.
“Fraudulently acquired mobile wallets may also serve as channels for money mules, those who transfer or move illegally acquired money on someone else’s behalf, including those unaware of larger criminal schemes… criminals often target students, the unemployed, and those on dating websites, by lending or selling their mobile accounts,” it read further.
Earlier, the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group reported that fraudsters use such accounts in criminal activities like money laundering and identity theft.
According to a spokesperson from the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group, they were able to monitor rampant postings of verified GCash e-Wallet accounts for sale via Facebook Marketplace in recent months, leading to a number of arrests.
“Let this serve as a warning to the public to protect their personal information from getting into the hands of unscrupulous individuals. Scammers use these e-wallet accounts to perpetrate their nefarious schemes while enjoying their anonymity. I’m also encouraging the public to be watchful and immediately report any cybercrime,” said Police Brig. Gen. Bowenn Masauding, PNP-ACG officer-in-charge, in a press release.