Each of us as a smartphone user has a dedicated subscriber identity module card or what is known as SIM card. In an ideal world, there should be one SIM card for each individual or each business entity. But in the times we are in, it is not the case — an individual can own multiple SIM cards to undertake fraudulent activities or assume different identities; while a company which operates like a troll farm can purchase thousands of SIM cards to do text blasts that spew misinformation and disinformation.
Even until today, at this moment, hundreds of Filipinos are being scammed, duped, or misled by text messages that invite them to access online sites that would phish information. Phishing, as some may not be aware, is a type of “modus operandi” where user data, login credentials, and credit card numbers are illegally harvested. The attacker disguises as a trusted entity and dupes the victim into revealing personal information. There are a lot of forms of this phishing, but this fraud often starts with an innocent-looking text message.
When we become victims of these text messages, it would be so hard to trace the source. As SIM cards are cheap in the country, fraudsters change numbers like changing a shirt. Law enforcement is not much of a help as they are inundated with a storm of complaints about online fraud each day.
When the House and the Senate passed their versions of mandating the registration of SIM cards, it was trumpeted as a “timely and relevant” act, as a previous version was vetoed by then President Rodrigo Duterte due to a provision about social media accounts. Now, with a much more “focused” law on SIM cards, it garnered majority support from lawmakers.
On the part of the Senate, Senator Grace Poe, chair of the Committee on Public Services, said, “Finally, we can do something aside from just ignoring, deleting, or blocking the numbers with fraudulent or spam messages.” All senators present in the Senate’s 25th regular session last Sept. 27, 2022, voted to ratify Senate Bill 1310 or the SIM Card Registration Act.
“We now have in our hands the means to unmask the criminals who have been hiding for so long under the protection of anonymity and to bring them to justice,” Poe added.
Senate Bill 1310 aims to curb mobile phone and electronic communication-aided crimes by requiring all mobile phone users to present valid government-issued IDs or documents in registering their SIM cards. Telecommunications companies will also be tasked to protect subscribers’ personal information under the regulation of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
On the part of the House, their version includes monetary fines on telcos, authorized SIM card sellers, and even government workers who fail to comply with the law. Soon, a bicameral conference will merge the two versions of the bill before it is submitted for the President’s signature — the first one that will be signed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.
The law is commendable in a way that it makes each SIM card holder accountable for his or her action. Now, whether this law will be properly implemented to its full extent or not remains to be seen. But this is a step toward fighting fraud, online or otherwise.
