MANILA: The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Monday encouraged dealers of subscriber identity module (SIM) cards to log and register the names of their buyers and check their identification documents.
"Siguro yung mga nagbebenta ng mga SIM cards, i-register na rin nila sino ba yung bumili ng SIM card and then anong pangalan, titingnan yung government issued ID para sigurado na yung probability na fake yung government issued ID ay medyo much lesser
para ire-report rin nila sana sa Globe or Smart or kung anong mga telecom companies para at least kung hindi man nila i-register, tayo na mag-register kasi sila naman ang bumili sa atin eh (I think those who sell SIM cards, they should also register those who bought SIM cards from them. They should check the names and scrutinize the government issued ID presented so that the probability of fake IDs is much lesser. So that when they report to Globe or Smart or whatever telecom companies, at least if these buyers did not register, the dealers can register because they bought it from them)," said PNP chief, Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. in a press briefing in Camp Crame, Quezon City.
This came as the PNP-Anti-Cybercrime Group is intensifying its monitoring campaign against online and text scammers who are allegedly rushing to victimize as many people as possible as the SIM registration deadline nears.
PNP-ACG director Brig. Gen. Joel Doria said scammers are aware that it would be easy for authorities to catch them once SIM registration was fully implemented.
Doria said they have noticed that scammers use SIM cards for fraudulent activities only once and that these are immediately thrown away.
He added that they have also coordinated with mobile wallet service providers for these to add safety features to protect subscribers.
Signed into law by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in October last year, Republic Act 11934 or the SIM Registration Law of 2022 mandates all subscribers to register the same with the telephone company until the end of April to prevent its deactivation.
The law took effect on Dec. 27 last year with subscribers given 180 days or until April this year to register their SIM cards.
The registration will allow the identification of the owner of the number of a particular mobile number being used.
“Of course the role of the PNP is to investigate, and file the appropriate charges against violators for not registering their SIM cards and we expect the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to help us in the investigation of these cases plus we also encourage the DICT na tulungan kami sa awareness campaign sa itong mga scams na nangyayari kasi kung minsan maraming nabibiktima (to help us in the awareness campaign on these scams that happen because sometimes, many fall victims to these schemes),” said Azurin.
Doria, meanwhile, said they have conducted 234 cyber patrolling in connection with online "sabong" (cockfighting) that resulted in 119 blocked websites, 79 deleted accounts and pages and 35 inactive websites
Source: Philippines News Agency
