28,000 Registered SIM cards found in POGO Facility

With the SIM Card Registration Act now in full effect, it seems that the law will be put to the test immediately as a recent raid of a POGO facility in Pasay City has recovered 28,000 registered SIM cards that might have been used in online scams.

“The SIM Card Registration Act is supposed to ensure that all the owners are verifiable and that SIM cards are not used for unlawful purposes. But the presence of 28,000 SIM cards is, in itself, questionable already,” DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla told members of the media last Monday.

Because of the large number of registered SIM cards seized, Remulla is asking help from telcos to sort out the mess–especially since it’s hard to explain how a big chunk of registered SIM cards ended up in a POGO facility that could have been possibly used for online scams.

“One of the things that we realized at this point is that many of these numbers are also being used in the apps that are there. And many of these numbers, even if not registered with the telcos or not being used by the telcos, are being used through the app-based use of telephony,” Remulla explains.

The DOJ is eyeing to file a case against the said POGO facility under spoofing of a registered SIM and misrepresentation.

Spoofing carries a penalty of 6 years in jail and/or Php 200,000 fine while misrepresentation comes with 6 months to 2 years of imprisonment and/or a fine between Php 100,000 to P300,000.

3 Comments

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donald duck , August 11, 2023

This Sim registration is a massive failure and will continue to be a failure it’s ineffective and will never stop scams and I’m amazed these braindead politicians think it will stop scams especially as this very same policy has been tried in other countries who are more advanced than us and yet it failed

This Sim card registration policy was just a very poor attempt of government pretending to do something when I. Reality government has done nothing to stop scams

And agencies like DICT and NTC who are supposed to be all educated in tech clearly lack the brains the education or even the knowhow because if they was educated they would know sim card registration will never work because it’s easily bypassed and scammers do not and never really had the need for sim cards when there are plenty services online that works out much cheaper and faster to use
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cornered citizen , August 14, 2023

paano malalaman kung ilang sim na ang naregister sa name mo?
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Edward , August 14, 2023

They should do away with sim phones completely. That would solve many problems.