A raid on SA Rivendell Global Gaming uncovered over 28,000 SIM cards used for cyber scams, with unopened SIM cards registered on social media platforms. According to this August 7, 2023 report written by Joann Manabat for Rappler, the firm had sophisticated scam operations, including a cryptocurrency fraud targeting victims in Europe, Australia, and Hong Kong.

More than 7,000 unopened SIMs were used to register to social platforms like WhatsApp, Viber, Instagram, Google, and YouTube.

Editor’s Note: The article attached below was quick to point out that this discovery “bolstered fears of SIM Card registration law opponents, who claim it poses risks to legitimate users’ personal details while not doing enough to stop scammers”. Well, recent events are indeed showing that the SIM Card law will do nothing to stop scammers – the very reason why this law was passed in the first place. It only prevented regular citizens, many of whom do not wish to register their SIM Cards, access to an essential services.

Second, the massive data leaks in the Philippines shows that we do not have the capacity to protect the private data of millions of Filipinos [see Philhealth Data Breach: Medusa Group Threatens to Release Member Data If US $300,000 Is Not Paid, Over 1M Records from PNP, NBI, Other State Agencies Compromised in Unprecedented Data Breach]. Why then is our government insisting on large-scale digitalization?

More importantly, where is the Senate inquiry and review on the failed SIM Card Registration Law? Is our standard so low now, that we are going to allow these anomalies to pass us by without comment?

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