PNP-ACG, GCash boost partnership against fraud

The Philippine National Police (PNP) and GCash, the Philippines’ leading financial app, strengthened their partnership in running after fraudsters and scammers.

On April 11, GCash officials, led by its Chief Legal Officer, Atty. Maricor Alvarez-Adriano, Head of Legal Department, Atty. Gilbert Escoto, Head of Fraud and IT Risk and Security, Miguel Geronilla, VP for Public Affairs and Corporate Communications, Gilda Maquilan, and the Head of Enterprise Risk Management, Bea de Ocampo attended a forum led by PNP-Anti Cybercrime Group (ACG) director PBrig. Gen. Sidney Hernia to signify the cooperation with the national police force to fight cybercriminals in the country.

The discussion included a presentation of the PNP of cases involving cybercrime and how they are constantly working together to enforce the law among these offenders. The GCash team also had a meeting with the PNP-ACG Director of Operation PCol Villamor Tuliao to discuss how GCash can collaborate further with the PNP on investigation requirements to combat perpetrators. GCash presented its joint Public Service roadmap with the PNP, through Gilda Maquilan, VP for Public Affairs and Corporate Communications, in coordination with the PNP-ACG PIO (Public Information Office) spokesperson, Capt. Michelle Sabino, to reinforce education for all stakeholders.

Aside from strengthening its partnership with the authorities, GCash has also been introducing game-changing security features while doubling down on its education drive to its customers. Geronilla did a live demo about the DoubleSafe security feature of the app recently launched to the public in March.

With DoubleSafe, even if a user inadvertently shares their MPIN and OTP to fraudsters, their account cannot be accessed from another device without scanning the owner’s face – ultimately preventing account takeovers.

“GCash is not only committed to reinforce our security measures in our app but also make sure that cybercriminals are punished according to the law while constantly reminding the public on how to safeguard their accounts,” said Atty. Adriano. “Together with authorities, other relevant government agencies and our users, we can ensure that GSafeTayo.”

Along with the launch of Doublesafe, GCash is also intensifying its GSafeTayo campaign through a series of awareness and education materials that will help customers identify and avoid fake sellers, suspicious links, as well as other common forms of scams.

GCash has been in close coordination with the PNP-ACG to help protect its more than 79 million users from criminals, scammers, and fraudsters. The collaboration has led to the apprehension of suspected scammers and the blocking of suspicious accounts. The parties agreed to come up with a public service awareness campaign to appeal to the public, improve operations support and efficiency, and share best practices to further combat cybercrimes.

GCash and the PNP continue to remind the public not to open unfamiliar links,as it is a common practice for scammers to gather personal user information. GCash has stopped sending links and SMS, emails to counter this. Secondly, never share personal information, GCash will never ask for your OTPS or MPINs and will only reach out through official channels. Lastly, they enjoin everyone to and double check before buying and check reviews for authenticity of goods before initiating financial transactions online to avoid being scammed.

To report scams and other suspicious activities, users can go to the the GCash Help Center via the GCash app or at https://help.gcash.com/, Chat with Gigi, and choose “I want to report a scam.”