PAOCC launches one-stop shop vs. abusive lending apps

The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) on Monday launched a one-stop shop to handle complaints of victims of abusive online lending applications.

“Hindi na kailangan pumunta sa pulis.  Dito, sama-sama na kami para mas madali na ang pag-file ng kaso, hindi na gagastos,” said PAOCC Executive Director Gilbert Cruz.

(There’s no need to go to the police.  The agencies are here for easier filing of complaints.  It will also be less costly for the complainants.)

The complaint desk at the PAOCC office in Pasay City has representatives from the National Bureau of Investigation, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG), Philippine National Police and its anti-cyber crime group, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

“Bottom line is, we need to file an airtight case,” said Police Brigadier General Rollie Suguilon, OIC of PNP-CIDG.

Interest rates charged to borrowers of online lending apps reach up to 50 percent.

For April and May this year, over 13,000 complaints have been received by the PAOCC from people victimized by the lending apps.

During the launch of the one-stop shop, PAOCC said it received a hundred sworn statements of complainants.

One victim, Julie, said the lending app used AI-generated images to expose her on social media, which affected her mental health.

“I used to be jolly, now I no longer go out of the house.  To end this, I even thought of suicide,” she said in Filipino.

Online lending apps should be registered with the SEC, but the agency acknowledged some manage to advertise their lending offers without going through the agency.  It advised users to immediately report the illegal lending apps so they could be blocked.—LDF, GMA Integrated News