Senate panel to start probe on text scams on Thursday —Poe

The Senate Committee on Public Services will start its investigation into the proliferation of text scams on Thursday, panel chairperson Senator Grace Poe said on Monday.

"We will have a hearing on Thursday to tackle the proliferation of text scams and more importantly to deliberate on the SIM Registration Act," Poe said in a text message to reporters.

During the Senate session, Poe said that the hearing was moved on Thursday due to the Commission on Appointments session on Wednesday.

In a statement, Poe said she is eyeing the passage of the proposed SIM Card Registration Act by November.

“Ang SIM Card Registration bill ay kasama sa prayoridad ng Senado na maipasa,” Poe was quoted as saying.

“Nag-hearing na kami d'yan noon, marami na kaming nakalap na impormasyon at kaisipan tungkol dyan. Kung matatapos natin ang hearing sa Wednesday, technical working group na lang sa susunod na linggo, tapos baka pwede na natin ma-plenaryo. Hopefully, ito ay mapasa by November.  Ito ang nakikita nating timeline kasi hihintayin pa rin natin ang bersyon ng House,” she added.

Apart from the spam text messages, Poe mentioned that there were also incidents of "mirroring" where individuals are pretending to be people in government and asking financial support.

“May isang tumawag sa akin sa isang app, sinasabi na siya raw yung ambassador.  Iyong profile nya na lumabas sa app, iyon nga ‘yung ambassador na ‘yun, kaya lang hindi naman sya ‘yun,” Poe said.

More senators seek probe

In a separate resolution, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has called for a Senate probe on the proliferation of spam and phishing text messages.

"It is the duty of the government to ensure that the consumers' right to privacy are protected and that they are not victimized by fraudulent activities facilitated through spam and phishing messages," he said in Senate Resolution No. 133.

"Hence, it is important that the government through relevant government agencies come up with an effective intervention to stop the proliferation of these unsolicited text messages in the country," he added.

Apart from Gatchalian, Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa also filed a resolution seeking a Senate probe on the "alarming rising number of text scams."

Senator JV Ejercito also expressed support for the hearing that Poe will lead, saying these scams are getting "rampant" and even government officials are becoming "victims."

He also said he will support the proposed SIM Card Registration Act to avert this form of scam.

"In line with that, I would want to support the SIM Card Registration [bill]. This would greatly prevent scammers and pranksters from doing their modus operandi," Ejercito said.

Registration

During the 18th Congress, Poe sponsored the SIM Card Registration Bill. However, it was vetoed by then-President Rodrigo Duterte before the sine die adjournment of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The proposed SIM Card Registration Bill mandates all public telecommunications entities to require the registration of SIM cards as a prerequisite to their sale and activation.

The bill also proposes all social media networks to also require the real name and phone number of users upon creation of account.

Duterte rejected the proposed law due to the provision on social media registration.

Ejercito said the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has to "step up" to avert these scams.

New heights

In a privilege speech, Senator Jinggoy Estrada also took to the Senate floor his concern on the spam and scam text messages which "(soared) to new heights" since late 2021.

The lawmaker said it is alarming that the spam texts already know the identity of the owner of the mobile numbers, citing a text message that one of his staff members received.

Estrada also disclosed that he received a text message calling for financial assistance but he said this was already "bordering on extortion."

Similar to what happened to Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, Estrada said he was contacted by individuals who posed as Batanes Vice Governor Ignacio Villa and a certain Bicol board member named Carlo Magno.

The individual who pretended to be Villa messaged him last July 7, 9 and 11, seeking financial assistance for a "spiritual formation" and "team building" of their Sangguniang Panlalawigan members.

Those who contacted him even asked for a video greeting for the event, he added.

Meanwhile, the person who pretended to be Magno sought personal financial assistance from him and asked him to send it to a GCash account registered to a certain Cheska Mae.

Prior to this, he also received similar text messages on June 29 and August 3 from someone who claimed to be Catanduanes Rep. Leo Rodriguez.

But during a courtesy call last August 9, he found out that it was not Rodriguez who messaged him.

Apart from these, Estrada said there were also messages from individuals who claimed to be IBP Leyte Chapter President Jovanni Plateros who was seeking help for the students of Kinachawa Elementary School in San Ricardo, Southern Leyte.

Ejercito said he already sought the assistance of the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group last August 15 to look into this matter and take appropriate actions.

"Nakapanlulumong malaman na ang gamit ko na mobile number para sa aking mga opisyal na gawain ay napasakamay na pala ng mga manloloko at ang higit na nakakabahala ay ang posibilidad na nagpasalin-salin na sa kung kani-kaninong poncio pilato ang isang dapat sana ay pribadong impormasyon," Ejercito said.

"Based on news reports, many of us senators have been subjected to such a scheme. The spate of incidents is enough to cause alarm among authorities and concerned agencies on the apparent violations of data privacy and a seeming string of fraud and misrepresentations," he added.

He then raised the need for SIM registration as a means to stop or at least reduce the proliferation of these scams and fraudulent acts.

Victimize the poor

After his privilege speech, Senators Zubiri, Poe, Dela Rosa, Sherwin Gatchalian, Raffy Tulfo, Bong Revilla and Pia Cayetano expressed support to Estrada's call with some who shared their personal encounters on these spam messages.

In a text message to reporters, Senate Majority Leader Joel  Villanueva raised the urgent need to address the problem of text scams as these victimize the poor ones especially those who are still seeking jobs.

"Ibang level na po ng data leak na ito dahil mismong pangalan na ng subscriber ang lumilitaw na sa mga text scam. Hindi lamang po trust issue sa telcos ang usapin dito, kundi ang tiwala po natin sa bawat kumpanya o ahensya na binibigyan natin ng personal data," Villanueva said.

"Dapat magkaroon ng 'user-friendly' na mekanismo upang maging madali ang pagreport ng mga text scams at magkaroon ng madaliang deactivation ng mga numerong nagpapadala sa maraming numero," he added.

Villanueva noted that an inter-agency group was formed when the issue of "smishing" was raised.

He said the inter-agency body should present their steps to identify the source of data breaches or leakages.

The majority floor leader also mentioned the filing of his billl, Senate Bill No. 366 or the Anti-Spam Act, which seeks protection for the telephone and mobile subscribers against these scams.

Shocking encounter

Meawhile, Senator Nancy Binay shared a "shocking" encounter when she received a random text message with her name in it.

"Sa totoo lang, nagulat ako—it's both an unexplained fear and a terrifying surprise. Noong una, parang okey lang at dedma since paminsan-minsan may natatanggap talaga tayong burst SMS na mga marketing promo or weather advisories," she said.

"Then, meron nang kung anu-anong offer na trabaho o kesyo nanalo ka ng premyo. Pero nang maka-receive ako ng text message sa personal phone ko with my name, I was so shocked dahil never kong ginagamit ang personal phone ko in online transactions. Ni hindi nga naka-link sa ibang social media accounts ang number ko. So, paano nakuha ang number ko?" Binay shared.

She expressed concern over these schemes, saying these cybercrime groups were already deeply entrenched in data sources which were supposedly secured, private and confidential.

"Kung may personal information na na kasama sa mga text scams, it may extend to something bigger and more sophisticated scheme hanggang umabot sa kung saan ka nagtatrabaho, ano’ng schedule ng mga anak mo sa school, saan kayo regularly namamasyal, anong credit card na ginagamit mo, sino ang best friend mo, at ano ang pinag-uusapan ninyo. Nakakatakot na," Binay said.

"Habang tumatagal at wala tayong aksyon na ginagawa, lalong nagiging kapanipaniwala ang mga scams at maraming tao ang maaaring mabiktima,” she added.

Further, Binay said the personal information of the citizens remain vulnerable due to lack of transparency and standards on the processing, handling, and storing of personal data collected by mobile applications.

This, despite the passage of Republic Act 10173 or the Data Privacy Act of 2012, she added.

COVID-19 data

Binay noted that the data collected by the contact tracing application ‘Staysafe.ph’, which was utilized to help in preventing the spread of COVID-19 disease, was still not in the possession of the Inter-Agency Task Force nine months after it requested the files from the mobile application developer, Multisys Technologies Corporation.

“The unabated digital scams will erode the trustworthiness of electronic commerce and may reverse our shift to a digital economy. It is the right of our people to have a safe digital ecosystem and it is the duty of the government to provide and secure such an environment,” Binay said.

In June, Poe urged the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the NTC to increase their efforts in addressing the "unabated surge" of text scams.

The National Privacy Commission (NPC) recently said that it is now investigating the incidence of spam or unsolicited text messages that contain the names of subscribers or recipients.

Privacy Commissioner John Henry Naga said the Privacy body is “monitoring and investigating the proliferation of unsolicited text messages from anonymous numbers, with some containing the receiver’s names.”

The NTC has earlier ordered telecommunication companies to once again blast warnings to the public concerning the new variety of spam text messages. —KBK, GMA News