NBI warns homeowners vs fake anti-piracy agents

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is going after bogus agents who have been using the intensified campaign against computer software piracy to extort money from individual users with pirated software programs.

Head Agent Jose Justo Yap, of the NBI-Intellectual Property Rights Division (IPRD), said yesterday they have been receiving complaints from homeowners who claimed NBI agents raided their homes and extorted money from them.

The complaints came after the NBI and Optical Media Board (OMB) launched an intensified crackdown on software piracy last Sept. 16 with the creation of the "Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team" composed by the NBI and OMB agents.

"Immediately after, we began receiving complaints," Yap said.

He said the fake agents might have taken advantage of the crackdown to dupe homeowners, who were threatened with confiscation of their computer units and the filing of charges unless they pay up.

Yap clarified that the drive focuses on companies, computer stores and Internet cafes. Individual users are spared from the crackdown and are in fact allowed to have back up files of programs in case their system bogs down.

In the first place, he pointed out, residential owners should not allow NBI agents or any representatives of the Business Software Alliance (BSA) into their home and remove their individual computers unless they can produce an identification card and a search warrant.

"Don’t let them into your home right away. Always ask for a warrant issued by a court. If there is no warrant then that means the operation is illegal. Only buybust operations are exempted from producing a warrant," Yap explained.

He advised victims of the scam to immediately report the incident to the authorities.

Yap admitted that the complaints are not limited to Metro Manila.

The NBI-IPRD chief said he even circulated a memorandum to their regional and district offices, particularly addressed to the regional directors and the agents-in-charge of the investigation, to be alert and monitor reports of similar scams.