Lawmakers urged to strengthen cyber laws

MANILA, Philippines - The police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) urged lawmakers yesterday to strengthen the laws against cyber crimes to prevent foreigners from using the country as “safe haven” of Internet criminals.

CIDG chief Director Samuel Pagdilao Jr. revealed that the country has become the base of operations for cyber crime operators involved in pornography, prostitution, illegal gambling, credit card fraud and identity theft through the Internet.

The CIDG and other law enforcement agencies could hardly deal with the cyber criminals, which include foreign suspects because of the country’s weak laws against cyber crime, said Pagdilao.

He stressed that syndicates are utilizing sophisticated technology and law enforcers in the country are lagging behind the syndicates in terms of training and equipment.

Pagdilao urged Congress to prioritize the passing of the Cyber Crime Prevention Bill.

He also asked the Philippine National Police (PNP) to support the organizational and technical capability buildup of the CIDG Cyber Crime Unit in order to efficiently and effectively address the problem of cyber crimes especially those involving transnational organized crime groups.

Recent CIDG anti-cyber crime operations revealed that Korean crime groups are running illegal online gambling and credit card fraud operations in the country.

There are other foreign gangs operating cyber sex dens and pornographic websites based in the country and the CIDG is monitoring their operations.

Pagdilao said that the recent arrest of a recidivist Korean hacker, Shin Un-sun, who is wanted by both the PNP and the Korean National Police Agency for large scale Internet fraud has revealed that Korean cyber crime syndicates are operating almost unhampered in the country.

Agents of CIDG’s Anti-Transnational and Cyber Crime Division (ATCCD) arrested Shin, 38, in his hideout in Barangay San Juan, Santo Tomas, Batangas last Oct. 4.

He was busy hacking an unknown corporation using his laptop when the ATCCD operatives arrived at his place.

Investigation disclosed that Shin is wanted in South Korea for hacking the Hyundai Capital Corp., a Seoul-based financial service company specialized in auto financing, personal loans and home mortgage.

The incident resulted in the theft of 420,000 client’s account information as well as 13,000 passwords from customers’ loan accounts and credit rating information.

The suspect afterwards demanded from the Korean firm an undisclosed amount in exchange for not leaking the information he obtained.