Scammers amass P155M in 8 months

DEPARTMENT of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin «Benhur» Abalos Jr. revealed on Wednesday that around 8,000 victims in the country have lost an estimated P155 million to various con artists or scammers employing all sorts of fraudulent schemes from January to August this year.

In a statement, Abalos said the data came from the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG), which has been continuously conducting efforts against online scammers who appear to be always innovating and finding ways to scam people with the use of the internet.

Abalos mentioned the report during the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MoA) between him and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Emilio Aquino on behalf of their respective agencies on Tuesday.

The MoA is designed to support the SEC's campaign against financial scams, particularly the agency's Anti-Scam and Illegal Taking of Investments Group (Astig).

«This partnership is very timely, as we need to educate the public about the fast-growing menace of investment frauds,» Abalos said.

SEC and DILG will collaborate to equip Filipinos with the knowledge of financial principles and on avoiding the traps and techniques of investment scams.

These efforts will lead to the early reporting and detection of any illegal financial schemes.

According to Aquino, the DILG, which serves as the overseer of local government operations, also serves as the SEC's «best link to investor education and protection» at the grassroots level.

«I am confident that the DILG, as purveyor of excellence in local governance, will be a key driving force to the network's greater success,» he said.

BGen. Sidney Hernia of PNP-ACG issued a public awareness alert in June in the hopes of educating the citizens regarding the dangers associated with selling registered SIM cards to fraudsters.

This was related to the incident on June 14 when the PNP-ACG Cybercrime Response Unit arrested a male Taiwanese, his live-in partner, and his brother in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan.

Some 7,000 pieces of assorted registered SIM cards were recovered from the suspects.