Barbers calls for amendments to SIM card law to stop text scams

SURIGAO del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers yesterday raised the need to amend certain provisions of the SIM Registration Act to stop organized crime syndicates from buying in bulk SIM (subscriber identity module) which they use in various online scamming schemes.

Barbers, the chair of the House Committee on dangerous drugs, said the House has to pass amendments after learning from the hearings being conducted by the House Committee on public order that several raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) firms were found to have stashed thousands of recently procured SIM cards reportedly for use in their online scamming schemes.

“To minimize or stop online scamming and illegal transactions that victimizes unsuspecting victims, we should amend and add more teeth to the SIM Card Law to put a stop and/or make obsolete those various scamming schemes,” Barbers said.

He explained that despite the passage of Republic Act 11934, which mandates the registration of all SIM cards, crime groups or individuals, local and foreign, have managed to play around with the law and continue with their scamming operations.

“The law was intended to curb cybercriminal activities, to address issues related to trolling, hate speech and online disinformation. But what we are seeing and witnessing today is that online scamming activities continue and remain unabated,” he said.

Under the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the SIM Card Law enacted on December 27, 2022, postpaid subscribers are considered to already be registered with their respective telco companies, needing only to confirm the existing details they already have with the telcos.

Prepaid subscribers, on the other hand, are required to undergo registration through a telco’s online portal, with the subscriber providing photos and other details.

What the organized scamming syndicates do to skirt the law, Barber said, is to buy in bulk prepaid SIM cards “because they can always provide fake or fraudulent details of their phone users.

“And telcos have no capability or system to monitor and catch these scammers who are using a subscriber’s altered postpaid SIM IDs,” he said. “During the raids recently conducted by PAOCC