GLOBE Telecom Inc. has reaffirmed its commitment to continue monitoring and blocking potential financial fraud in its network with the passage of the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA).
Globe lauded President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s recent signing of the AFASA, which aims to protect all persons from falling prey to various cybercrime schemes by regulating the use of financial accounts and preventing their use in fraudulent activities.
“As a service provider that deals with fraudsters every day, Globe is grateful that the Philippines now has a law that is up to date and addresses fast-evolving threats to the security of our financial system,” said Ernest Cu, Globe president and chief executive officer.
AFASA will complement the Cybercrime Prevention Act and the SIM Registration Act, strengthening security measures against ever-evolving scam tactics by fraudsters.
In the first half of the year, Globe said it has blocked over 2.74 million bank-related spam and scam messages, a decline of 43.56 percent compared to the 4.85 million messages blocked in the same period of 2023.
This reflects that its collaboration with banks and other financial institutions to curb financial fraud has been working, Globe added.
“Globe will remain a staunch ally of the government and financial institutions in beating fraud. Through the passage of AFASA, we look forward to a safer financial environment for our customers and the public,” Cu said.
AFASA mandates banks and other financial institutions to implement stringent security measures and robust fraud management systems to protect financial accounts.
It empowers the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to thoroughly investigate and scrutinize financial accounts potentially involved in illicit activities.
It also authorizes the BSP to apply for cybercrime warrants for electronic communications implicated in violations of this law, effectively bypassing the usual constraints imposed by bank secrecy and data privacy regulations.
The law penalizes financial fraud schemes with heavier penalties, including imprisonment of six to eight years and fines of up to P500,000 for money mule schemes; prison time of 10 to 12 years or fines of up P1 million for social engineering schemes; and life imprisonment or fines of up to P5 million for economic sabotage.
