Senator Risa Hontiveros has filed a Senate resolution seeking an official investigation on the recent spate of unauthorized transactions, scams and other irregularities involving mobile financial services.
In the proposed Senate Resolution No. 1234, Hontiveros said that the Senate must review existing rules and regulations governing the financial technology or ‘fintech’ sector, since there is “no legislative framework yet in place to ensure stability and transparency, build public trust, and promote inclusion vis-à-vis this class of services”.
“Mobile financial services have become a part of daily life for millions of Filipinos, and the fintech sector has been an important driver of economic growth and financial inclusion. GCash alone has an estimated 76 million users who posted P6 Trillion worth of transactions in 2022 – that is almost equal to our national budget next year,” the veteran legislator said.
“Kailangan natin ng batas na poprotekta sa kapakanan ng bawat Pilipino na gumagamit ng digital wallets, lalo na kung may scam, hacking o ibang regularidad.”
“Napakarami ang nakikinabang sa mobile financial services, lalo na yung mga “unbanked” o walang kakayahan na magbukas ng account sa bangko. Kailangan natin ng batas na poprotekta sa kapakanan ng bawat Pilipino na gumagamit ng digital wallets, lalo na kung may scam, hacking o ibang regularidad,” the seasoned lawmaker added.
The lady senator’s resolution cited recent incidents and issues which have affected a number of fintech users, such as the recent wave of unauthorized transactions in GCash, a leading mobile financial service provider, in which money from GCash user accounts were transferred to unknown phone numbers.
GCash operator G-Xchange Inc. has attributed the transfers to errors in an “on-going system reconciliation process” and the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has stated that the incident is “an internal issue” rather than external hacking.
“Similar incidents occurred in 2023, in which multiple GCash accounts were compromised using ‘phishing attacks’.
However, her resolution noted that “similar incidents occurred in 2023, in which multiple GCash accounts were compromised using ‘phishing attacks’ staged through various online gambling platforms”.
Hontiveros also pointed to warnings by the DICT on phishing attempts disguised as official text messages from GCash or PayMaya, another fintech e-wallet service.
The messages, she said, were supposedly sent using a device called an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catcher, which monitors and intercept mobile data traffic by posing as a cellsite.
“The list of risks and complications which threaten the earnings of mobile financial service users grows longer every day. We urgently need upgraded policies to ensure that mobile financial service providers and fintech firms observe the necessary level of care and accountability in handling digital transactions,” Hontiveros stressed.
“Kailangan natin aksyunan ang daing ng mga kababayan nating biktima ng scam o hacking sa mobile financial services, na tila walang mahingan ng tulong sa pagbawi ng natangay nilang pera. We must implement a system that enhances regulatory oversight over the fintech sector, so Filipinos can trust that their hard-earned money is safe – even online,” she concluded.
