“Forewarned is forearmed.”
‘There’s a sucker born every minute’ is a phrase often attributed to P.T. Barnum, the famous American showman and circus owner. However, there’s some debate over whether he actually used this exact wording. What he really wanted to say is that there are always people ready to be deceived or exploited.
As what we are now seeing with the proliferation of online scams of various kinds in this country.
Recent news reports indicate some of those who had worked for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogo) raided by Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) for illegal activities, including money laundering, online fraud, kidnapping and murder, among many others, have set up their own online scamming activities. It appears that those who had previously ran big Pogo hubs have turned to creating smaller companies to avoid getting the attention of law enforcement agencies.
Some of these newly minted facilities now employ about 200 workers and operate from ordinary commercial spaces, according to the PAOCC.
One such scam hub, identified by authorities as 3D Analyzer Information Technologies Inc., had an office located just several meters away from the Senate building in Pasay City.
“This is ‘technology transfer’ in an evil way. A criminal activity has been ‘transferred’ to the locals,” according to Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.
Pogos, which flourished during the Rodrigo Duterte administration, were mostly operated by Chinese nationals. But in the case of 3D Analyzer, almost one-third of its nearly 300 employees were Filipinos.
The closure of Pogos announced by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July is said to have given former Pogo workers the opportunity to start their own operations. Since Filipinos were usually better in speaking English than their Chinese bosses, local Pogo operators also do better in looking for potential victims. Each Pogo worker is supposed to recruit 20 to 40 individuals in carrying out their scamming activities.
Apart from Pogo scams, there are other forms of making the unsuspecting and the unwary part with their hard-earned money.
Another new online scam involves the victim getting a phone call from someone claiming to be an “official” of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) who will tell you that your mobile number is involved in some illegal activities.
What to do? Hang up, because it’s a fraudster pretending to be from NTC but is only out to steal money from you. We should be wary of unsolicited calls, especially if these are not registered in our phone logs. We should also never share personal information like bank account details even if the caller claims to be from a legitimate organization.
Some scammers also pretend as bank agents in order to trick users into giving out their bank log-in details, account numbers, and credit card numbers.
Another modus by online scammers is to induce panic by convincing them their account will be closed or suspended if they do not provide the necessary bank details.
Other scammers likewise tell potential victims that their accounts have been chosen for free credit card upgrades so they can steal personal information—and then steal money from their accounts.
Telcos are now working with the NTC and banking institutions to prevent the further proliferation of these scams. The telcos are doing their part actively foiling spam messages and deactivating SIM (subscriber identity module) cards linked to fraudulent activities.
One telco has reportedlv blocked about 240 million spam text messages in the second quarter of this year—a 79-percent decline from the more than 1 billion in the same period a year ago and a 35-percent decrease from the previous quarter. The telco player also deactivated 504 SIM cards in the second quarter, lower by 88 percent from over 4,000 a year ago.
While there is a decline in numbers, cybersecurity experts previously said that scammers were also launching attacks via online messaging platforms to evade detection.
Another telco recently activated a new network firewall that has the capability to block as many as 30 million malicious texts in one day.
In relation to this, a recent study showed that Filipinos are becoming increasingly receptive of mobile protection amid the recent flurry of cyberattacks. Some 87.5 percent of the respondents are demanding brands to proactively block mobile fraud as a safety measure. Almost all respondents, or about 97.5 percent, also want total mobile protection in mobile apps covering account login and data storage, among others.
As they say, forewarned is forearmed. (Email: ernhil@yahoo.com)
