“Wag Magpaloko!” financing companies remind the public

MANILA, Philippines — Scammers and scam incidents are on the rise, especially in recent months, said Global Dominion customer service head Sarah Tabing. The observed increase in reported online lending scams was seconded by other financing companies like SAFC, Global Cebuana, Cycle Financing and Cebuana Cycle.

The common malicious scheme starts with someone pretending to be a representative of a lending or financing company and encouraging financial consumers to process a loan application online with his help. This is then followed by a collection of an application fee, or in some cases, multiple application fees, which scammers claim to be for the "evaluation of their applications."

This is where financial consumers get negatively impacted, since money is collected from them, after starting their online lending journey to get access to credit for various purposes.

Dragonpay believes that the absence of a formal payment gateway and/or platform in some online lending companies, combined with the public’s lack of awareness of various malicious schemes online, contribute to the increasing number of scam cases.

“We believe that an inter-organizational or industry-wide approach is necessary to fight these scammers,” shared Global Dominion COO Melai Felicidario, who later helped form a gathering of companies from the lending and financing industry through the #WagMagpaloko campaign.

Its core members include the vehicle mortgage loan and financing providers SAFC and Global Dominion, motorcycle mortgage loan provider Cycle Financing, OFW loan provider Global Cebuana, motorcycle financing provider Cebuana Cycle, and payment gateway provider Dragonpay.

These companies met to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to share best practices when it comes to handling scams and continue to help in improving the awareness of the public about various online and offline scamming schemes.

Jerwayne Corsino, COO of SAFC, reminds the public to be more vigilant when dealing with people online, especially when they demand money before any formal transactions are completed. "It’s important to research any financial product or service thoroughly and make sure you’re dealing with an