• RICHARD T. CABALLERO JR.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is taking a step to promote a safer bank system through a stricter implementation of its Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA).
BSP Regional Operations Bacolod Branch conducted a media information session yesterday aiming to disseminate information regarding what they described as “massive and global-scale bank system digital scamming.”
The agency pushed for stricter enactment of the existing AFASA law to protect consumers and their financial security.
“We believe that when there is an opportunity, crime will follow. As we shift to digital banking, criminals also adopt digitalized scamming,” BSP Consumer Account Protection Office Acting Director Atty. Alain Bert Regis said, citing their data which stated that there is a rise of crime in the digital banking system.
Regis disclosed that the move was a result of the difficulties in the investigation and resolution of the prevailing scamming incidents, citing that bank secrecy laws in the country were obsolete.
With this, the agency pushed for more modern legal weapons to combat financial scams in the digital era through implementing BSP Circulars 1213, 1214, and 1215, which were already published and effective as of June 25 this year.
Under the trident circulars were the stricter implementation of the criminalization of money mauling and social engineering, involving financial institutions in the fight and authorizing BSP to enquire into financial accounts.
Moreover, Regis warned the public to countercheck all transactions and messages from their respective bank companies to avoid being scammed. He added that the banking industry was prohibited from sending links to the customers through SMS messaging, citing that if the incident occurs, it may be a scam.
This comes after the initiative of the BSP to digitalize the banking system in the Philippines for more efficient and convenient processes.
“We pushed the digitalization of payments and transactions for faster, safer, and more efficient bank services,” Bank Officer V Maureen Franco said, citing that the initiative will also improve e-commerce.*
