Projects to hunt online scammers preying on Journal Group, others

PHILIPPINE National Police (PNP)) chief, General Guillermo Lorenzo T. Eleazar on Thursday led the launching of their E-ACCESS or Enhanced Anti-Cybercrime Campaign, Education, Safety and Security program aimed at fighting cybercriminals in the country with the help of netizens.

Two months after he assumed the top PNP post, Gen. Eleazar said the E-ACCESS program initially will focus on cybercrime and cyberweb watch to help the police identify, arrest and charge online scammers who have been unmasked by their victims.

Gen. Eleazar admitted that online scams and other cybercrimes increased since the start of the pandemic when Filipinos stayed home and forced to use the Internet and do online transactions.

“Consistently, tumataas ang cybercrime incidents during the pandemic kung saan bumaba ng more than 60 percent and index crimes which is the barometer of peace and order,” he said.

Thru the projects initiated by the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) headed by Brigadier Gen. Robert T. Rodriguez, the PNP chief said they are doing a ‘realistic and doable campaign to alleviate the problem of our citizens’ when it comes to online scams and other cybercrimes.

He said that people who doubt they are dealing with online scammers using pre-paid SIM cards or easy-to-create social media accounts can use their Cybercrime Watch application to check if the persons they are dealing with have been involved in past scams.

The Cyberweb Watch will see to it that all reports and information about identified online scammers will be put in one databank and circulated to all PNP-ACG units nationwide for investigation once the suspects turn out to be operating in their areas.

Brig. Gen. Rodriguez said that online scam is now Number 2 among the top cybercrimes in the country with scammers using different modus operandi to hit their target.

“Before the pandemic, prevailing, or highest cybrrime is cyberlibel but in 2020, nung me pandemic, naunahan na ng financial fraud or scams, 2nd na lang ang cyberlibel,” Rodriguez said.

He said that indeed, digital communications technology has been taken advantage of by criminal elements, whether they are scammers, cyber-bullies, online extortionists, pedophiles and the so-called ‘sextortionists.’

In going up against the borderless crime, the PNP chief said they will need all the help they can get from the public especially now that they have more than 4,000 accounts which have been investigated by the PNP-ACG for fraudulent activities

Gen. Eleazar said that thru their E-ACCESS project, they will be further enhancing their cyber-patrolling operations daily and timely analyze cybercrime data for intelligence and operations nationwide.

On the other hand, Cybercrime Watch will be an informative platform which can be accessed thru the Internet. Thru it, people can search for the phone numbers, social media accounts and e-mail addresses of scammers who have already been the subject of criminal complaints filed before the PNP-ACG.

Gen. Eleazar commended the PNP-ACG, the PNP Information Technology Management Service under Brig. Gen. Daniel Mayoni and the PNP Directorate for Information Communications and Technology Management headed by Brig. Gen. Alexander Sampaga for pouring in their resources and manpower to create the project.

The PNP chief said that all information provided to the system will be automatically included in the PNP-ACG database for future investigation. However, he said there are safeguards to prevent the possibility that data privacy or the bank secrecy act will be violated as a result of the project.

He said that a ‘One-Time Pin’ will be automatically given to a citizen accessing the program in order to find out if the person he/she is dealing with has a pending criminal complaint.

The PNP Directorate for Comptrollership released around P35 million to help procure servers and other accessories needed for the program by the PNP-ACG.

Gen. Eleazar said they are also engaging with Facebook specifically in taking down the accounts of cybercriminals in the country and are continuously lobbying with Congress for a law that will make mandatory the registration of pre-paid SIM cards being sold even in small stores nationwide.

PROJECTS TO HELP JOURNAL GROUP, OTHER VICTIMS OF ONLINE SCAM

The two projects will particularly help the likes of Journal Group of Publication editor-in-chief, Mr. Augusto B. Villanueva whose name has been used by online scammers to threaten and solicit money from their targets.

The PJI which publishes popular newspapers People’s Journal and People’s Tonight, with its official website journalnews.com.ph has sought the PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group and the National Bureau of Investigation’s assistance in unmasking the real identities of the culprits behind the scam.

“Unfortunately, the scammers continue to target individuals with their illicit activity. We hope that the culprits would be unmasked and penalized soon with the assistance and investigation from the NBI,” the company said.

Brig. Gen. Rodriguez earlier vowed to help investigate the online scam.

“We are investigating this latest online scam and at the same time warning the public to be wary of the existence of such illegal activity. With the help of the public, we are confident we can identify and arrest the suspects behind this scam,” he said.

The scammers created the fake ‘journal peoples<peoplesjournalnewspaper@gmailcom> address to victimize the public, the PNP-ACG learned.

The scammers’ modus operandi is simple. Using the name of Mr. Villanueva, they will send an e-mail notice to companies they have been targeting, claiming that the newspaper outfit has received a Notice to the Public which will bring negative publicity to the concerned company.

The suspects are believed to be targeting people with delinquent payments on their credit cards or bank loans and using the personal information of their targets, would call the attention of their company’s human resource department and warn them of a forthcoming negative publicity thru Paid Ads in order for them to come across their monetary demands.

One particular e-mail message sent to a target read as follows:

“We received a paid ad “NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC” against xxxxxxxx dragging the name of xxxxxxxxxxxxx, indicating that there is a pending case violation of ARTICLE 315 OF THE REVISED PENAL CODE/R.A. 8484 Access Device. We noticed that it will bring negative publicity against you and the company that is why we are informing you. It will be Publish for 3 consecutive Sundays and paid by a certain xxxxxxxxx.

The Journal Group has officially denied sending the emails out. “It’s a scam. It wasn’t’ sent by our office,” it said.

The crime of estafa or swindling under Article 315 or the RPC may be committed thru different forms including one with unfaithfulness or abuse of confidence; by means of false pretenses or fraudulent acts; and through fraudulent means.

The crime carries a minimum penalty of P10,000 and an imprisonment of not less than 12 years and not more than 20 years.