Four persons have been arrested for allegedly selling “fraudulent GCash accounts,” the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) announced on Monday, March 27.
Those arrested during two days of operations were identified by the NBI as Jay O. Cortez, Kevin Mark Y. Maboloc, Jeffrey Q. Miguel, and Jeffrey B. Ilagan.
The suspects were charged with violations of Trafficking in Access Devices Fraudulently Applied For which is penalized under Section 9(b) of Republic Act No. 8484, the Access Devices Regulation Act of 1998, the NBI said.
It said that agents of the NBI’s Cybercrime Division (NBI-CCD) arranged a meet up with Cortez and Maboloc last March 20 in Quezon City; Miguel on March 20 in Manila; and Ilagan on March 21 in Quezon City.
It also said agents of NBI-CCD received information that “there are Facebook accounts engaged in trafficking of GCash accounts.”
The information stated that “Subjects are operating within the vicinity of Quezon City and Tondo in Manila and conducting their business via Facebook and Messenger,” the NBI said.
GCash is a payment service that makes use of virtual wallets for online transactions.
The NBI said its agents used an undercover Facebook account in transacting with the four suspects.
It said that Cortez offered to sell each account for P900, Miguel for P550; and Ilagan for P650.
“All of them said that each account has P100,000 transaction and that they can produce up to 100 accounts more,” it also said.