DICT working with other countries to address online scams, abuses

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is now working with other countries to address online scams and sexual abuses since many of the perpetrators are located overseas.

According to DICT Secretary John Uy on Tuesday, the department is now working hand in hand with law enforcement agencies of other countries to put a stop to online financial crimes, as well as sexual abuses, especially those victimizing Filipino children.

“Many of these operators, they hide behind extra-territoriality because they feel if they operate from another country and the victims are not in that country but elsewhere, the law enforcers do not bother them,” he said during the Senate finance committee deliberations.

“What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to make the world smaller for them by having exchanges with these countries,” he added.

In terms of online sexual abuse, Uy said the DICT informs the country where the perpetrators are located, and law enforcers from the area track them down and seize the materials being used.

The country then shares the information gathered back to the DICT, which in turn conducts rescue operations to remove the victims from the scenario alongside the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Uy said, however, that a number of children being rescued are heavily traumatized but they would rather choose to stay with their parents than be taken by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

“Sadly, with respect to these ones that are being propagated by parents on their own children, when the children are rescued, the parents are arrested and so the children end up being with the DSWD,” he said.

“Sometimes there’s this ethical moral dilemma of the children technically becoming orphans when we successfully rescue them because their parents end up in jail,” he added.

Uy earlier said the Philippines is working with other territories to issue warrants against those involved in smishing schemes.

The DICT is now requesting P300 million in confidential funds for 2024, citing its fight against cybercriminals. Uy has since requested an executive session to discuss the department’s plan on how to utilize the funds against such activities.

“One of the reasons we are challenged in going after them is we lack the ability to do so because our hands are tied with respect to intelligence gathering,” he said.

Earlier this month, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said it received more than 45,000 complaints regarding text scams despite the passage of the SIM Registration Act.

The National Privacy Commission (NPC) last month warned the public that those involved in selling pre-registered SIMs could face fines or up to P300,000 or imprisonment of up to six years, or both. —KBK, GMA Integrated News