Senator Joel Villanueva on Friday, Nov. 26 said the government should adopt a zero tolerance policy against text scams as the “next great pyramid” would be built on the foundation of stolen data of cellphone and internet users.
“Iyan po ang dapat nating paghandaan (We should be prepared for this). Sabi nga po nila (as they say), there are more pyramids in the Philippines than in Egypt. While the pyramids here eventually come crashing down, many soon rise to replace them," he said.
Villanueva was referring to get-rich-quick Ponzi schemes, or illegal chain distribution plans, which promise astronomically high returns on investments, but in fact are drawn from money put in by new recruits
“The next pyramid builders will no longer rely on word-of-mouth marketing. They will use digital recruitment to lure victims. Iyan pong Pyramid scam version 2.0 ang iwasan natin (let us avoid it),” he explained.
“Katulad po ng (like) COVID, mayroon pong (there are) mutations ang mga ganitong scam (of these scams),” he added. “And just like in fighting the virus, the government should be ahead of the curve in preventing internet and cellphone scams from victimizing our people.”
As the country reels from the pandemic-fueled high employment and underemployment rates, Villanueva fears that job seekers are a huge market for scammers. The unemployment rate in September 2021 reached 8.9 percent, which is about 4.25 million jobless workers.
Desperate people have always been the target clientele of scammers, he said.
Villanueva, chairman of the Senate Labor committee, called on the government to be wary of “data brokers” who sell personal data of consumers.
“In this internet age, marami kasi pong mga (there are) data capture points tulad ng membership sa mga utilities, government, social institutions, financial companies, etc," he said.
This is why “smishing” should be given no quarters by the government, Villanueva pointed out, referring to the cybercrime of sending messages to induce recipients to reveal personal information.