GCash starts anonymizing usernames during transactions

Mobile wallet provider GCash (G-Xchange Inc.) has started to anonymize account usernames when making transactions amid concerns on data privacy and spam text messages.

Gcash on Thursday said it rolled out a feature update which anonymizes the names of users under its send money service, in a bid to add a layer of customer protection.

Prior to the feature, the complete usernames were shown, which the company said was an added measure of convenience and helped in verifying the proper recipient.

“We need to strike a balance between customer experience and strengthening measures to keep user information safe from unscrupulous individuals,” GCash chief information security officer Mark Frogoso said in an emailed statement.

“The feature that shows the full names of recipients was intended to help users verify if they are sending to the right person and avoid being scammed,” he added.

GCash, which currently has over 66 million registered users, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Mynt (Globe Fintech Innovations Inc.), a partnership between Globe Telecom Inc., the Ayala Corp., and Ant Financial.

The company said it blocked 1.37 million fraudulent accounts from January to July this year, on top of those blocked by its security systems.

It also said it detected and took down some sites that impersonate the company, including 900 phishing sites and 400,000 social media accounts.

Personalized scam text messages have been prevalent in the country, with the National Privacy Commission (NPC) finding difficulty in determining the source of information.

The agency said it has already coordinated with GCash and instant messaging application Viber to trace if there have been any instances of unusual activity which may have resulted in data collection.

“We have been working closely with the National Privacy Commission on the issue of text scams with names,” Frogoso said.

“We wish to assure our customers that our systems and infrastructure remain secure and there is no incidence of any data leak or breach,” he added.

GCash last week said it will migrate transaction confirmation notifications within the mobile application, aimed at improving security and providing easier access to transaction history. These were earlier made through text messages.

Local telecommunications firms in June said they already blocked millions of “smishing” messages, referring to the practice of sending text messages purporting to be from legitimate organizations with the aim of obtaining users’ personal information.—AOL, GMA News