While it’s a relief that the government has decided to extend SIM Registration to July 25, users need to be more vigilant, as scammers are taking advantage of it.
“I already warned that once we extend this [SIM registration deadline], scammers will use that to take the opportunity to continue and hasten their scamming methods using their respective cellphones,” DICT Sec. Ivan John Uy reiterated this during a press briefing on May 16.
In his explanation, Uy said that most scammers have changed their modus to fool people easily. One of the new methods scammers are doing is to ask unsuspecting users to comply with SIM registration by directing them to a phishing link. Another modus that Uy spotted is that scammers pretend to be e-wallet providers, asking users to re-register their SIMs to activate their e-wallet.
To make it clear, users do not necessarily need to re-register, as the SIM registration alone makes them compliant with the law and ensures that they can use their e-wallets without any issues. These bogus links can lead to phishing incidents similar to what happened to GCash last May 8.
As of May 10, the DICT claims that around 96% of SIM cards have been registered and that they are not expecting 100% registration.
