It is high time that a single government agency is designated to chase creators and administrators of fake websites, Senator Grace Poe said.
Poe made the call after joining her colleagues in raising the alarm about the proliferation of websites that dupe people into paying fees in exchange for electronic registration or arrival cards.
"The e-arrival card is a relatively new document being required, at mayroon na agad mga fake website (And there are immediately fake websites),” Poe said during the plenary session on Tuesday, November 22.
Poe, chairperson of the Senate committee on public services, cited duplicating functions in different government agencies.
`She noted that aside from the National Bureau of Investigation's Cybercrime Division, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has a Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), which was given a P274.73-million budget this year.
The Philippine National Police (PNP) also has an Anti-Cybercrime Group in charge of all ICT-aided crimes.
"That's why it's confusing, there's no central government office that you can lodge a complaint to on particular cases like this," Poe lamented.
The lady lawmaker recalled leading a hearing on a similar issue, aimed at establishing a central complaint desk on fake websites and bank frauds.
`The central government body could easily direct concerned agencies to act on the complaints based on their jurisdictions, since these fraudulent companies receive payments through credit card transactions.
"Definitely, there has to be a government agency to direct those banks and credit card companies not to accept or authorize transactions from those fraudulent companies. Maybe that's an angle we can look at," Poe said.