Lawmaker calls for 'stricter' implementation of SIM card law

A senior lawmaker on Sunday called for stricter implementation of the SIM Card Registration Act following the discovery of more than 50,000 SIM cards suspected of being used for unscrupulous schemes, including online scamming, in raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators.

According to Surigao del Norte Rep. Ace Barbers, it's high time that Congress "add more teeth" to the law to put a stop to text scams being purportedly committed by illegal POGO hubs in Bamban, Tarlac, and Porac, Pampanga, which was recently raided over its involvement to illicit activities. 

"The law was intended to curb cybercriminal activities and address issues related to trolling, hate speech, and online disinformation. But what we are seeing and witnessing today is that online scamming activities continue and remain unabated," stressed Barbers, chairperson of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs. 

Barbers have no qualms that "these POGO operators and workers won't use" the confiscated SIM cards for "good intentions."

"What the organized scamming syndicates do is to buy in bulk prepaid SIM cards because they can always provide fake or fraudulent details of their phone users. And telcos have no capability or system to monitor and catch these scammers who are using a subscriber's altered postpaid SIM IDs," he pointed out.

POGO has been at the center of controversy after authorities discovered that the gaming industry breeds severe crimes, including human and drug trafficking, kidnapping for ransom, illegal detention, rape, torture, and murder.

These illegal acts eventually led to the nationwide ban of POGO operations ordered by no less than President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. last week during his third State of the Nation Address.

Barbers lamented that despite the passage of the SIM Registration law, Republic Act No. 11934, which mandates the registration of SIM cards, crime groups and local and foreign syndicates still managed to infringe the law and carry on with their scamming operations.

The law was enacted in October 2022 to combat cybercriminal activities by regulating the sale and use of SIM cards through mandatory registration. The proliferation of text spam and phishing were the major factors that prompted its enactment. 

Under the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the SIM Card Law, postpaid subscribers are considered to be already registered with telco companies, and they only have to confirm the existing details they already have with the telcos. 

On the other hand, prepaid subscribers must undergo registration through a telco's online portal, with the subscriber providing photos and other details to the telco. 

However, despite these provisions, progressive groups and several lawmakers have been calling to amend--if not repeal--the law, citing its failure to curb text scams.

Other scamming schemes include ATM skimming, identity theft, online shopping, lottery scams, crowdfunding scams, romance scams, advance fee fraud, fake websites, SIM swap scams, blackmail scams, and credit card scams, according to Barbers.

In addition, he said other types of scams were impersonation scams, online banking scams, catfishing, charity scams, computer hacking, investment scams, grandparent scams, and card scams. 

"The scamming techniques involve various psychological manipulations aimed at persuading the client-victims to make hasty, irrational, and unsafe decisions to part with their personal identities, property, or money to the suspects," he said.