GCash, the country’s no.1 mobile wallet app, reminded users to exercise more caution and vigilance as various online scams continue to proliferate.
Customers
must watch out for “Account Takeover” wherein log-in details are compromised
due to phishing scams. Scammers often use fake social media accounts and
pretend to be a GCash agent offering to solve their tickets or concerns with
their GCash wallets, but the ultimate goal is to steal money from the victims.
Swindling
is another modus which happens when a scammer tricks a user into buying a
service or product and paying for it using GCash but will not deliver the item
that has been paid for.
Another
frequent cause of unauthorized charges is when GCash users allow other people,
sometimes family members, access to their accounts. Oftentimes, a friend or
family member would use their account to purchase or subscribe to a service
without the owner’s knowledge.
In light
of these scams, GCash has several reminders to help ensure users can protect
their accounts from fraudsters:
l To avoid account takeovers, users should never give out any information
about their accounts like MPINs and One-time Pins (OTP) and only transact with
official channels like the GCash Help Center (help.gcash.com) or the GCash
hotline: 2882. It’s also important for users to make sure they verify
transactions within the GCash app to avoid giving important information to fake
websites.
l To avoid being swindled online, be sure to research and read reseller reviews
on the product you’re buying and who you’re buying it from.
l To avoid unauthorized charges and risks, GCash is reminding users to never share account
details with other people and to always check before they tap ads or when
downloading from applications they do not trust.
l GCash also urges its users to stop the practice
of lending or selling their accounts to receive potentially illicit remittances from
others. This is commonly called "money mule" scams. Account owners
that are caught doing this illegal act can be prosecuted under the Anti-Money
Laundering Act of 2021.
Aside from
warning its users against various scams, the leading e-wallet is also working
in tandem with the National Bureau Investigation (NBI), the Philippine National
Police – Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG), and PNP – Criminal Investigation and
Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) to uncover online scams and apprehend perpetrators.
So far, there have been a total of 17 arrested and imprisoned fraudsters.
Likewise,
GCash maintains topnotch security systems and has tightened its user
verification and onboarding process. From January 2021 to March 2022, the
mobile wallet app has blacklisted 14,752 wallets due to “Account Takeover”,
4,609 wallets for swindling, and 923,164 for identity fraud.
“At GCash,
we remain relentless in our pursuit against online scamming. We will continue
to work closely with various authorities to fight scammers and protect our legitimate users. We are
constantly upgrading our security systems, as well as educating our customers
so that they can use the GCash app without worries,” said Martha Sazon, GCash
President and CEO.
With its
#GCheckMuna campaign, GCash also empowers users to be more vigilant in the face
of scams. The company also just recently introduced the beta version of Gigi
the chatbot to immediately help customers with their various scamming
concerns/incidents. GCash users may also visit the Help Center at
help.gcash.com to report a phishing scam anytime. Fake pages will then be taken
down within 24 hours.
