About P1 billion worth of money and cryptocurrencies were discovered linked to SIM cards confiscated in various raids by security authorities in less than two months, an official said Wednesday.
Among the biggest raids was the one in Pasay City where over 25,000 SIM cards were confiscated from an alleged Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) facility, Information and Communications Secretary Ivan John Uy revealed during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.
The Department of Justice earlier said these SIM cards were believed to be used in online scams.
Uy said the registered SIM cards and the linked e-wallets are the likely depository of money stolen from various scams by criminal syndicates. Cards they sampled had amounts ranging from P50,000 to P100,000, he added.
Text scams still exist despite the SIM Registration Law because many consumers sell their registered SIMs and some register using fake IDs.
“In the next few months, we will be cleaning up those records together with the telcos. What’s important is we identify the techniques that they use,” Uy said.
The DICT is now studying proposals to limit the number of registered SIMs per user or impose a fee to register a 3rd or 4th SIM per individual.
The department also warned the public that some scammers are moving to other platforms including Facebook Messenger and Viber.