Text scam nets P5M

Text scammers pocketed P5 million from "gullible" Pinoys last year who bit their raffle winner bait according to the Anti-Money Laundering Council.

AMLC executive director Vicente Aquino said the modus operandi involves texting someone advising he had won a promo but needs to deposit some amount as tax or fee before he can get the prize.

All of this of course is a ruse to rob the person.

Aquino said text scams fall within the crime of swindling or estafa which is a predicate crime both under the Revised Penal Code and RA 9160 or AMLA, as amended, and therefore is punishable.

Aquino believes that the P5 million estimate he had given is much smaller than the actual problem since most victims are too proud to admit that they have been duped.

Text scam, he added has already reached and victimized people not only in the urban areas but in the provinces as well.

In "text scam" deceiving messages are being sent to prospective victims through cellular phones, using the names of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., and other institutions, advising recipients of the message about winning a huge prize in a supposed raffle draw.

National Telecommunications Commission commissioner Ronald Solis meanwhile said the regulatory body has received about 487 complaints last year. As of the first four months of this year, the NTC has received 104 complaints.

Solis said the NTC has already asked telecommunications firms to block the SIM card of the suspected swindlers. In 2003, 389 SIMs were blocked for complaints on text scams while this year, they have already sent blocking orders for 102 SIM cards.

However, Solis admitted that this initiative is not really that effective as this acts continue to proliferate.

The NTC then, together with the AMLC and the Department of Trade and Industry and the National Bureau of Investigation formed a task force and a technical working group to focus on this issue of text scam.

The first phase of the group is to give information to the public about the "modus operandi" of some groups to collect money from potential victims.

"First of all, if the message asked for anything of value in return, it's a scam. And also, if the message you receive comes from an ordinary 7-digit number it's bogus," Solis said.

He explained that the NTC approves three to four-digit numbers, specifically for promos or raffle draws.

The NTC commissioner also said that they would ask the Congress to define text scam as a crime under a special law that would also provide for a heavier penalty