The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) plans to hale the telecommunication companies and their retailers into court for their supposed failure to manage unregistered SIM cards.
The still proliferating cards are used by criminals to defraud the public, including the receipt of messages for online bank transactions.
CICC executive director Alexander K. Ramos said the agency was alarmed upon discovery the unregistered SIM cards were being used to receive online bank transaction messages.
“It’s time for the government to get tough on the telcos,” he added.
Law enforcement authorities clamping down on organized crime, including call center operations, have seized thousands of unregistered SIM cards with spurious identities used in defrauding the public.
CICC, a unit under the Department of Information and Communications Technology, will meet with the National Telecommunication Commission to share its findings.
The majority of the SIM cards were ostensibly prepaid Smart SIM cards. Also seized were prepaid SIM cards with GCash accounts in them.
The SIM Registration Act or Republic Act 11934 mandates the registration of SIM cards prior to activation. The law meant to curb cybercriminal activities and the spread of text scams took effect on 27 December 2022.
A total 113,969,014 SIM cards have been registered as of 30 July 2023 or 67.83 percent of the 168,016,400 SIM cards previously thought to have been in circulation. Ramos said some subscribers continue to receive scam messages from unregistered SIM cards.
“Organized cybercrime syndicates have been using unregistered SIM cards and or SIM Cards with stolen identities to send fraudulent SMS with dangerous links,” he said.
The CICC is appealing to victims of text scams and other cybercrimes to call the Inter Agency Response Center hotline 1326 and report on these fraudulent activities.
