SIM card registration using anime details possible —PAOCC

Online scammers using SIM cards continue to operate even with the SIM Card Registration Law in place.

According to Marisol Abdurahman's report on "24 Oras," SIM cards may be registered using anime names and addresses made up of just numbers and symbols, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission showed.

Scammers may also register as many as 64 SIM cards in one go using equipment, such as the one the authorities confiscated in a recent raid.

During its presentation, the PAOCC used the name and likeness of Bart Simpson to register a SIM. It was able to do so in just three minutes.

The result was the same when the authorities tried to register a SIM with the name of an anime character and an address made of numbers and certain characters.

It appears that SIM registration for purposes of committing cyber crime has been east as telcos reportedly use artificial intelligence inthe process.

"The language of the law basicallly only requires that subscriber must enter the info correctly," said Dr. Winston Casio of the PAOCC.

Police admitted that curbing online scams remained a challenge but said the equipment they seized during operations helped.

“Parang cyber surveillance lang na kung sino yung umo-order ng mga ganung SIM card. Hanggang napasok natin kanilang head board gang natunton natin,” said QCPD Director Brigadier General Redrico Maranan.

(We conducted cyber surveillance on who ordered these SIM cards. From there, we entered their board gang and tracked them.)

The PAOCC has yet to determine how many pre-registered SIM Cards have been used for online scams. Meanwhile, it advised the public to remain vigilant against such schemes.

For its part, Smart Communications Inc. said the entire cyber scam system “must be put into light and not be obsessed or focused on certain parts”.

"The entire cyberscam system must be put into light and not be obsessed or focused on certain parts -- instead all stakeholders should work on a wholistic solution,” it said.

"Sim cards are largely imported and are used in other IT devices, ie bank cards; aside from cellphones. It's not in the production or importation but in the misuse by unscrupulous elements,” it added. —Sundy Locus/NB, GMA Integrated News