PNA
MANILA – Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Sunday said he filed Senate Resolution No. 1317 seeking to investigate the proliferation of love scams and other online frauds perpetrated previously by Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), which are banned in the country.
“We need to re-evaluate and strengthen the policy banning POGOs and reassess the use of cryptocurrencies in the country,” Gatchalian said in a news release.
He said relevant government agencies must continue to collaborate with international partners to develop and implement effective interventions designed to curtail the rampant online love scams and to track down and prosecute scammers across borders.
The Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG) reported eight cases of online love scams in January this year and 72 cases last year.
The Australian Federal Police even reported that around 5,000 Australians were victimized by a love scam center operating in the Philippines. It said around AUSD24 million were lost to scammers who targeted mostly male Australian nationals aged 35 to 80 via online dating applications.
As POGOs originally perpetrated love scams, there is a need to re-evaluate and strengthen the existing ban for stricter monitoring and enforcement measures, Gatchalian said.
He noted that perpetrators of love scams often employed sophisticated tactics, including the creation of fake online identities and the use of social engineering techniques, while exploiting the victims’ vulnerabilities.
“These fraudulent activities are frequently linked to organized cybercriminals including illegal online gaming operators and cryptocurrency transactions that provide perpetrators with an untraceable means of transferring and laundering illicit funds,” he said.
He said perpetrators usually target victims across borders using online platforms, creating a global network where scammers can exploit people from various countries due to difficulty in tracking them down across different jurisdictions.
“The use of cryptocurrencies in these scams also warrants a second look as it poses a significant challenge to regulators and law enforcement due to the cross-border nature of these transactions and its concealability,” he said. (PNA)
