THE chief of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said that the government is considering limiting the number of subscriber identity module (SIM) cards an individual can own in a bid to further deter scammers.
The proposal was made as text scams continue to proliferate in the Philippines despite the implementation of the SIM Card Registration law.
Undersecretary Alexander Ramos on Tuesday, Sept. 5, said he is looking at a maximum of four to five SIMs per person as he believes having too many is “abnormal.”
But he said telco players are proposing a maximum of 10 sim cards per person as the “reasonable” option.
“Ang prepaid card users natin, ang average is maximum two cellphones, apat na SIM cards. That’s why there is the postpaid, prepaid market, ‘di ba? Ang prepaid ito ‘yung ayaw gumastos ng malaki at hindi maka-afford,” Ramos noted.
He added: “If you have one person, nagre-register ng more than 10 SIM cards, so magkano na ‘yun (who registered more than 10 SIM cards, how much is that)? That’s against the logic of it,” he said.
Ramos said the CICC is working with the National Telecommunications Commission on the proposal. They aim to be able to add the restriction to the implementing rules and regulations of the SIM Card Registration Act within the next few months.
Meanwhile, Ramos said they will be looking into individuals who made bulk SIM registrations. He noted that they were even able to detect one user who registered 600 SIM cards.
“They’re under study right now. Kasi ‘pag ang numbers registered to that person were affected in the scams, automatic ‘yun, mata-tag na namin sila — uy, sindikato ‘to,” he said. (ABS-CBN News)
