GCash forges tie-up with DICT to fight system fraud

By Darwin G. Amojelar and Macon Ramos-Araneta

GCASH , the mobile wallet of Globe Telecom Inc. on Friday said it is ramping up partnership with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) against fraudsters and other cybercriminals.

Meanwhile, the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) said it has launched a probe on the GCash glitch which resulted in unauthorized transfers of money from hundreds of accounts.

In a related development, Sen. Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada eyes the imposition of imprisonment and as much as P5 million fine against cyber criminals targeting virtual or electronic wallets and similar platforms. GCash legal and security officials paid a courtesy call on CICC chief Undersecretary Alexander Ramos, days after a system glitch resulting in unauthorized money transfers. Gilda Maquilan, GCash vice president for public affairs and corporate communications, reported earlier that after receiving reports of irregular funds’ movement from the subscriber’s accounts, the mobile wallet management immediately conducted a probe and detected phishing as the cause of the problem.

She said scammers could have taken advantage of the ongoing SIM card registration and managed to access vital personal information of the victims which were used in the anomalous fund transfers.

Maquilan said the stolen funds were later traced to various accounts registered with Asia United Bank and East West Bank, after which, the full amount were reverted to their GCash virtual wallets.

GCash has signed a memorandum of agreement with the CICC in 2022 in a bid to strengthen collaboration in going after perpetrators involved in phishing, smishing, online fraud and scams, vishing, and other cybercrimes that target GCash users.

PBBM mulling nuclear energy to resolve PH’s power shortage

By Vince Lopez

PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

on Thursday said the government considers tapping nuclear energy among other sources of power to meet the country’s growing demand and avert a possible power crisis.

In a media interview on board his flight back to the Philippines, the President stressed the immediate need to ramp up the Philippines’ energy supply.

Marcos revealed that even before he took office, he had been looking at nuclear energy as an option to address the persistent power shortage.

“Even before I took office, we were already talking about looking into that. It turns out there are many nuclear technologies, different ones. We learned a lot in our last visit to Washington and then— even though we are in the EU (European Union), there are many differences,” the President said.

In his recent working visit to the US, the Chief Executive said he was looking at a “cutting-edge” micro nuclear fuel technology as part of his administration’s efforts to solve the country’s power crisis.

While in Washington, DC, Marcos met with officials of the Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC), a USbased firm global leader and vertical integrator of nuclear technologies and services.

USNC officials expressed interest in bringing clean and reliable nuclear energy to the Philippines, describing the move as “probably a very important way for us to enter the (Philippine) market.”