GCash Signs Deal with DICT to Fight Fraud
GCash is going to fight online fraud, e-scams, in partnership with DICT.
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Editing by Nathaniel Cajuday
To further push their campaign against fraudsters and scammers, mobile e-wallet GCash announced last November 2 that it signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
The agreement is set to strengthen the collaboration between GCash and CICC to go after perpetrators involved in phishing, smishing, online fraud, e-scams, vishing, and other cybercrimes that utilize the GCash app.
“The CICC shall undertake the realization of these responsibilities with respect to our common values and common vision for a cyber-safe and cyber-resilient Philippines. We thank you [GCash] for your partnership and look forward to the accomplishments we will achieve together. Our actions today to safeguard people in cyberspace will shape the Philippines of tomorrow,” DICT assistant secretary James Layug said.
According to GCash chief customer officer Winsley Bangit, the initiative and agreement “couldn’t have come at a better time as 69 million or four out of every five Filipino adults, are now placing their trust in GCash.”
“We appreciate this immense support, which also serves as a compelling reminder that we must continue improving and innovating to protect our customers from ever-present cyber threats and other types of scams,” Bangit added..
Accordingly, Maria Corazon Alvarez-Adriano, GCash chief legal officer, emphasized that Gcash regarded it necessary to take a more active role to ensure that their users’ data are protected while “they continue to enjoy GCash and its convenient digital financial services securely and safely given the ever-growing GCash user base.”
“Through our joint efforts and commitment, we will be able to achieve more in the prevention, investigation, and prosecution of cybercrimes. I would also like to take this opportunity to assure the CICC that GCash will do whatever it can in order to provide successful implementation of this MOA,” the GCash executive explained.
Moreover, the MOA between Gcash and CICC will also facilitate cooperation on intelligence, investigation, operations, training, and capacity building in terms of clamping down on various types of scams.
The two will also jointly promote anti-cybercrime programs, campaigns, and activities to highlight the importance of educating Filipinos on cybersecurity.
Further, the agreement also aims to enhance coordination and operational assistance with other government agencies and LGUs.
In line with their anti-fraud and scam campaign, Gcash moved its transaction confirmation messages into its in-app inbox and removed all the links on its SMS and email messages last October. (Read more: GCash Moves Transaction Confirmation Messages to App Inbox, To Remove Links on, Emails, SMS)
In September, the mobile e-wallet provider also started to roll out the feature that anonymizes account usernames when making transactions in a bid to further address the concerns on data privacy and spam text messages.
In the same month, Gcash expressed its support for the proposed legislation that will criminalize the loan and sale of mobile wallet accounts. (Read more: GCash Supports Gov’t move to Penalize ‘loan and sale’ of e-Wallet Accounts)
The fintech firm also stopped sending text messages for each transaction on the platform “to help improve security and provide easier access to your transaction history, we’ll begin moving confirmation messages from your text message inbox to your app inbox”
Gcash was named the most trusted fintech platform in the country–along with crypto exchange Binance– according to the recent results of the Special Industry Report on FinTech (Financial Technology) in the Philippines by the polling and data analytics firm WR Numero Research (WRN). (Read more: Binance, Gcash Most Trusted Fintech Apps in PH, Research Shows)
This article is published on BitPinas: GCash Signs Deal with DICT to Fight Fraud
Disclaimer: BitPinas articles and its external content are not financial advice. The team serves to deliver independent, unbiased news to provide information for Philippine-crypto and beyond.
