The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) on Saturday, June 22, said that it is determined to file complaints against erring entities and their free agents who failed to properly account for their thousands of unregistered Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards.
CICC, an attached agency of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), highlighted that these unregistered SIMs are being used to defraud the public.
In a statement, CICC Executive Director Alexander K. Ramos expressed alarm over ongoing investigations that found unregistered SIM cards being used to receive online bank transaction messages.
"It’s time for the government to get tough on these telcos," Ramos said.
CICC said law enforcement authorities, who clamped down on organized crime including call center-type operations, recently seized thousands of SIM cards with various fake identities and unregistered SIM cards used to defraud the public.
Meanwhile, CICC said it will meet with the National Telecommunication Commission (NTC) to share its findings.
The SIM Registration Act, officially Republic Act No. 11934 and commonly called the SIM card law, requires all SIM cards to be registered before activation.
Enacted in 2022, the law aims to curb cybercriminal activities and the proliferation of text scams.
On June 18, senators urged the NTC to refrain from making excuses and to take a more proactive approach in addressing what can be described as a "text scam pandemic."
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As of July 2023, 113,969,014 SIM cards had been registered, accounting for 67.83 percent of the 168,016,400 SIM cards previously estimated to be in circulation.
Ramos noted that some subscribers continue to receive scam messages from unregistered SIM cards.
“Organized cybercrime syndicates have been using unregistered SIM cards and or SIM Cards with stolen identities to send fraudulent SMS with dangerous links,” he said.
Furthermore, CICC is appealing to victims of text scams and other cybercrimes to call the Inter-Agency Response Center hotline at 1326.
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