GoTyme Bank urges customers, public to scam-proof their resources

THE explosion in online activity for shopping or banking has created a rewarding market for scammers. Compounding the problem in the Philippines is a general lack of cybercrime awareness.

Jason Brasileño, head of fraud strategy at GoTyme Bank, describes the typical timeline of an online marketplace selling scam. Brasileño explains that if the money is deposited in a GoTyme account, the scammer immediately does any of the following: withdraws the cash, transfers it to an external bank account or some other e-wallet, and moves it to another GoTyme account, upon which the money is then exfiltrated.

Whether or not the fraud victim — now the complainant — is a GoTyme customer, the incident must be reported immediately to GoTyme’s Customer Service.

The most that GoTyme can do is put the account either on debit hold or both debit/credit hold. After this, the bank files a suspicious activity report to the bank’s compliance team, which then files a suspicious transaction report to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for regulatory reporting.

All these have driven home the urgency of legislation against digital fraud through the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (Afasa), a version of which had been passed by the House of Representatives. The Afasa will provide a regulatory framework that penalizes scammers and entails safeguard measures to protect Filipinos and their financial accounts.

GoTyme Bank takes these matters seriously and has always urged its customers to exercise online caution and remain vigilant when safeguarding their financial resources.