DURING and after the COVID-19 pandemic, a big, seemingly irreversible leap happened in the consumer and financial markets, among other sectors. This is the growing dependence on online transactions by many Filipinos, and with this, the pivot to a variety of cashless transactions such as bank fund transfers, online wallets, and payment applications.
Unfortunately, for every change in economic behavior comes the windows of opportunity for unscrupulous and greedy individuals to ride the tide of change in a manner most favorable to them, even if detrimental to the rest of society.
Various scams, dirty tricks and white-collar crimes have been invented to lure unsuspecting online customers wanting to buy basic necessities and even non-essential goods and services from vendors.
It is for this reason that the government and the private sector have been rushing to remedy the dire situation, urging the greater population to always be wary of scams and shenanigans.
‘… as scammers come up with new, smarter methods of tricking people, credit cardholders, depositors and even ordinary consumers must become even more vigilant and proactive in protecting their personal information.’
One such effort is the “Pilipinas Fraud Awareness Week” set for July 1 to 5, with the Credit Card Association of the Philippines (CCAP) leading the observance. Educational and other activities are scheduled by the organizers to help the public avoid being duped amid the rise of fraud cases along with the growing acceptance by the Filipino public of various digital payment platforms.
Sixteen financial companies are set to launch their #FightBudol campaign in response to the scaling up of cases of fraudulent credit card activities via remote and other digital payment channels in the country since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
The CCAP noted that scammers now have the capability to create smarter, more genuine-looking spam emails, SMS, and other means to deceive credit cardholders amid the growing popularity of artificial intelligence tools. We recognize that AI experts were able to make believable videos and audio recordings of President Marcos Jr ordering the Armed Forces to attack a foreign country, which clearly shows the great danger the mishandling of this new technology can cause.
It is important for many Filipinos whose lives are impacted daily by online financial transactions to know the details of consumer protection and regulations, tips and reminders to avoid credit card fraud, and consumer rights and mechanisms for reporting cases of fraud.
Worth noting in this fight against cybercrime is the recent achievement of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) of busting a computer scam ring composed of a data officer of a major newspaper, and IT employees and students in the Bonifacio Global Center.
This group is suspected of being behind the recent hacking of the websites of the Maritime Industry Authority, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the political group 1Sambayanan. A member of the group was also caught in possession of vital information of bank depositors in at least four major banks, including usernames, passwords, one-time passwords, and other bank credentials.
The suspects are now facing charges of Illegal Access under Section 4(a)(1) and Misuse of Device under Section 5(iii) of RA 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, as well as Unauthorized Access or Intentional Breach under Section 29 of RA 10173 otherwise known as the Data Privacy Act of 2012.
Everybody should heed the warning of a finance executive who stressed that as scammers come up with new, smarter methods of tricking people, credit cardholders, depositors and even ordinary consumers must become even more vigilant and proactive in protecting their personal information.
