Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian renewed his push for the passage of the measure that would mandate the registration of all users of prepaid Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards to enable law enforcement authorities to immediately clamp down on scammers and other notorious online fraudsters.
Gatchalian, who himself was a recent victim of such illegal activities, said he learned that the suspects managed to charge to his credit card account an online food delivery after gaining access to a security feature on Web-based services – the One-Time Password (OTP) – using a mobile phone with a prepaid SIM card.
“When fraudsters gain access to OTPs, it’s as if they’re the actual owners of the account doing the transaction,” Gatchalian said in pushing for the passage of Senate Bill No. 176 or the proposed SIM Card Registration Act.
The senator said it is now imperative to consider regulating the sale and distribution of prepaid SIM cards to help curb such nefarious and illegal activities.
“The boundless stream of supply of prepaid SIM cards has become a magnet of illicit activities since the start of the pandemic,” the lawmaker said. “There had been countless cases of online fraudsters who used unregistered mobile numbers,” he added.
Gatchalian said it is important to include a subscriber’s facial features or names in the prepaid SIM cards especially during this time of a pandemic since it can also be used for contact-tracing.
“Anong kaibahan kung gagawin nang requirement ang pagre-register ng mga prepaid SIM cards sa requirement na kailangan mag-register sa mga lugar na pinupuntahan mo para sa contact-tracing (What’s the difference if we push as a requirement the need to register prepaid SIM cards with the usual requirement to register in establishments you visit for contact-tracing efforts)?” he said.
Once the bill is approved, end users of prepaid SIM cards would be required to present a valid ID and photo and sign a control-numbered registration form issued by the telecommunication service provider of the purchased SIM Card.
Copies of the accomplished forms would then be submitted to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and the service provider.