DICT wants audit of registered SIM cards

MANILA, Philippines — With text scams persisting despite a year of enforcement of the SIM Card Registration Law, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said it is keen on auditing the SIM card registration database.

“It is time to audit the registration database since it has been a year,” DICT Undersecretary for infostructure management, cybersecurity and upskilling Jeffrey Ian Dy told The STAR on Monday.

Acknowledging complaints of the continued proliferation of scams that use text or SMS to facilitate transactions or the spread of phishing links, Dy said this seemed to be caused not by serious deficiencies in the law per se but by the process of SIM card registration.

“There is no authentication as you can provide whatever ID you have,” he noted.

“There should be an authentication mechanism,” he maintained.

The audit will help the DICT and National Telecommunications Commission to make changes in the SIM card registration process that will effectively ensure the valid registration of SIM cards, Dy said.

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center announced over the weekend they would file complaints against telecommunication companies that are keeping subscribers with SIM cards not registered with the NTC.

The CICC discovered that thousands of unregistered SIM cards found in erring Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) hubs were being used for text and online scam transactions and communications.

CICC executive director Alexander Ramos said they were alarmed when an ongoing CICC investigation found that unregistered SIM cards were being used to receive online bank transaction messages.

Law enforcement authorities who clamped down on organized crime, including call center-type operations or POGOs, recently seized thousands of SIM cards with fake identities and unregistered SIM cards used to defraud the public.

The majority of the SIM cards were prepaid Smart SIM cards. Other  SIM cards seized on record with GCash accounts also include Globe prepaid cards.

Republic Act 11934 or the SIM Registration Act mandated the registration of all SIM cards before activation.

The law, which took effect on Dec. 27, 2022, was intended to curb cybercriminal activities and the spread of text scams.

A total of 113,969,014 SIM cards were registered as of July 30, 2023, the CICC said.

This accounts for 67.83 percent of the 168,016,400 SIM cards previously thought to be in circulation.

Ramos said that 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.

Victims of text scams and other cybercrimes can call the Inter-Agency Response Center hotline 1326.

Traffic violation scam

The CICC urged the public to be cautious of a text scam that spoofs the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) to get motorists to pay traffic violation fines.

Ramos issued the warning after the CICC detected the new modus operandi of text scammers targeting motorists with recorded traffic violations.

“Victims are instructed to pay the fine for their traffic violation through a certain link,” Ramos said.