House passes bill that imposes life imprisonment for ATM, credit card hacking

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a proposed law that imposes life imprisonment on people involved in ATM and credit card hacking.

A report on Unang Balita said House Bill 6710, which proposes amendments to Republic Act 8484 or the Access Devices Regulation Act of 1998, was approved on third and final reading on Monday with a vote of 224-0.

Aside from life imprisonment, the bill also proposes a corresponding fine of P1 million to P5 million.

"The Lower House recognized the urgency of the need for a tougher law against criminals preying on the unsuspecting public and acted accordingly. This bill seeks to protect holders of more than 80 million ATM/credit cards currently in circulation," said Eastern Samar Representative Ben Evardone, chairman of the House committee on banks and financial institutions.

The bill also proposes that hacking of bank computer systems, ATM card skimming and hacking of credit cards be declared as non-bailable offenses.

It also proposes to consider as economic sabotage the hacking of 50 or more ATM and credit cards.

"Losses from ATM fraud have surged alarmingly from P175 million in 2012 to more than P600 million in 2016 - a 250 percent increase in just four years. Add to this the reported P500 million stolen through fraudulent credit card transactions in 2016 alone and one starts to get the scary picture. This has to stop," Evardone added. —ALG, GMA News