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Senior Citizen Party-list Rep. Rodolfo "Ompong" Ordanes is worried that the reported data breach within Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) could lead to the victimization of elderly Filipinos in online scams. 

"The Senior Citizen Party-list is deeply concerned about the potential use of senior citizens' data stolen from Jollibee Foods Corporation for identity theft, scam targeting, and other cybercrimes," Ordanes said in a statement on Tuesday, June 25.
 
"Names, addresses, contact numbers, and ID numbers would be enough information to produce fake IDs, make bogus transactions, and assume the identities of those people whose data were stolen," he said. 

"Scammers often prey on the elderly because they can be easily confused about unfamiliar modern technology. Scammers have ways to identify seniors who have money in the bank or cash on hand," the ranking solon noted. 

Ordanes said the stolen files could be held for ransom or sold to syndicates engaged in data mining.
 
"I would imagine that JFC is doing everything it can to remedy the situation. The targeting of JFC, which is one of the country's largest companies, means no one is safe from these hackers," said the chairman of the House Committee on Senior Citizens. 

JFC owns Jollibee, the most popular fast food chain in the Philippines. Jollibee also has a significant international presence. 

"I hope the data breach is not worse than what is publicly known so far, but the damage is already quite severe because of the size of the compromised data," Ordanes said.
 
"I also hope the incident will spur the Senate to move fast on the proposed Anti-Financial Accounts Scamming Act," he added. 

Ordanes further said that the government should tap more techie or technology-savvy people in its fight against cybercrime, aside from pouring more funds into the effort.

As of September 2023, there were over 1,500 Jollibee outlets worldwide, with restaurants in Southeast Asia, East Asia (Hong Kong and Macau), the Middle East, North America, and Europe (including Spain, Italy, and the United Kingdom).