While the government’s decision to extend SIM registration is very much welcomed, the DICT is not wrong in saying that scammers are taking advantage of this to victimize people. This was clearly the case when the PNP Cybercrime group arrested a Taiwanese national and two Filipinos for selling close to 7000 registered SIM cards (EMPHASIS on registered) during a raid in San Jose, Bulacan last June 15.
From the raid, the PNP was able to seize 6,976 SIM cards that are registered, along with 13 phones, 3 iPad tablets, and an assortment of documents. According to the PNP’s investigation, the illegal activity has been in operation since August 2022–months before the enactment of the SIM Card Registration Act.
What makes the PNP raid disturbing is that the seized SIM cards are actually registered and verified for various e-Wallets like GCash, Maya, GrabPay, UnionBank, PayPal, and more. These SIM cards are sold online for Php 400 and are often used in a number of scams. The writer of this story was victimized by this scheme, which prompted us to write a guide on what to do when you get scammed through e-Wallets like GCash.
What’s even more alarming about this is that online platforms like Lazada and Shopee seem to not filter their listings: in fact, we were targeted by a sponsored Lazada ad on the sale of “vanity” SIMs on our Instagram. Under the SIM Registration Act, those selling SIM cards should require buyers to present a valid ID for proof of identity and will have to sign a control-numbered registration form that is issued by sellers–something that we don’t think is being done when purchasing vanity SIMs in eCommerce platforms.
We flagged this post to PLDT, and they told us that they are doing the necessary actions. We also raised this with Lazada as well, and we’re waiting for their response.
