THERE is no room for fraudsters to carry out their nefarious trade without being tracked and be made accountable after the end of the subscriber identity module (SIM) registration on July 25, according to Sen. Grace Poe.
With the seven-month SIM registration now over, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte on appealed to law enforcers to crack down harder on violators of this new law and of the Cybercrime Prevention Act.
“The end of SIM registration signals the beginning of intensified crackdown on mobile phone scammers,” said Poe, author and sponsor of the Republic Act 11934 or the SIM Registration Act.
She said authorities can now run after scammers who continue to defraud the public using the SIM of their mobile phones.
“This is a challenge to law enforcers on how they can give an example to SIM Registration Law violators, “ Poe added.
With the law in effect, the chairperson of the Senate committee on public services pointed out that the Philippine National Police (PNP) and concerned enforcement agencies now have mechanisms and reliable data to monitor SIM-related crimes.
She said the PNP will no longer be clueless on text scams.
“Hindi na mangangapa sa dilim ang PNP kapag may nagreport ng text scam,” she said in a text message.
The senator also confidence on swift responses by the authorities against cellphone scams.
The SIM Card Registration Law seeks to end crimes using text scams.
It requires all telecommunications providers to submit a verified list of their authorized dealers and agents nationwide to the National Telecommunications Commission and an updated list of the same every quarter of each year.
Poe assured the public anew that the law has safeguards on consumers’ right to privacy for a secure mobile use.
The government is expected to start deactivating unregistered mobile numbers which will result in the loss of mobile services like calls, data and texts, unless they reactivate their SIM.
A five-day grace period was given to mobile owners to reactivate their SIM through registration, or else the telco provider will block the number for good.
Poe urged telcos to continue assisting legitimate mobile users who will need help to reactivate their SIM in the period provided.
“We must give chance to those who only lacked the means to register while denying those who have vile motives,” Poe said.
Villafuerte said an effective and efficient law enforcement will protect owners of cellular phones and other mobile communication devices from text scams and other types of digital-based fraud.
Villafuerte urged the three public telecommunications entities (PTEs)—Smart Communications Inc., Globe Telecom Inc. and Dito Telecommunity Corp.—along with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to intensify their respective information drives to familiarize the public with the new schemes by cybercrime syndicates and unscrupulous individuals to rip off people despite the registration of their SIMs.
“Our authorities need to double down on their anti-cybercrime efforts as President Marcos, during the joint anniversary celebration of the National Security Council (NSC) and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) last week, added cyber attacks to the list of national security threats to the Philippines,” Villafuerte said.
At the same time, Villafuerte lauded local governments that have helped Smart, Globe and Dito along with the DICT and the NTC undertake what the government has described as a “successful” sign-up program that hit the official target of 100 million to 110 million registered SIMs before this week’s deadline.
“Now that the SIM registration period is over, it is time for our authorities to prove their true mettle as law enforcers by taking down violators of this new law plus the related 2012 law penalizing cybercrimes to finally stop nefarious groups and individuals from duping legit users of cellphones and other mobile communication devices from among the almost 106 million SIMs that have been listed in our national database before the July 25 deadline,” said Villafuerte.
Villafuerte was one of the authors of Republic Act (RA) 11934 or last year’s “SIM Registration Act” on the mandatory list-up of SIMs.
After the sign-up ended last Tuesday, the NTC reported on its website that, as of July 24, the number of registered SIM cards in the country reached 105.91 million, which is 63.04% of the total 168 million SIMs.
Of these registered SIMs, Smart accounted for 49.99 million; Globe, 48.37 million; and Dito, 7.54 million—equivalent to a respective 75.39 percent, 55.77 percent and 50.44 percent of their total subscriber base, respectively.
“These scammers need to be flushed out once and for all and, more importantly, meted the punishments due violators under RA 11934 and RA 10175 (“Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012),” said Villafuerte, president of the National Unity Party (NUP).
He said, “The strict enforcement of these laws is a must, more so in the light of alarming official reports that cellphone-based fraudulent acts were up during the homestretch of the SIM registration period, and that scammers have even come up with new schemes to con cellphone owners and other mobile communication device users.”