The Senate building at the GSIS Complex in Pasay City. (Photo by LYN RILLON / Philippine Daily Inquirer)
MANILA, Philippines鈥擣raudsters using fake websites to collect money for electronic arrival (eArrival) cards have caught the ire of some senators.
Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva on Tuesday raised the possibility of a Senate probe after Senator Pia Cayetano brought the issue before the chamber through a privilege speech.
鈥淲e support the call of our distinguished colleague, Sen. Pia Cayetano, for perhaps a Senate investigation on the matter to get to the bottom of this particular聽 issue, exact accountability, and put in place necessary measures and even legislation that would prevent this from happening again in the future,鈥� Villanueva said.
In her speech, Cayetano identified the website, 鈥減h.entryform.com,鈥� which she said was asking a fee of $79 or about P4,500 for the issuance of an eArrival card.
鈥淪o I don鈥檛 know how many people ang naloko dito, but the reality is, for the record, there is no payment required to secure this e-Card. None. Zero. So maliwanag yan. Ang eArrival Card is free of charge,鈥� she聽 stressed.
鈥淪o bakit may ganito? Bakit may raket nang ganito [So why there is something like this, why is there a racket like this]?鈥� Cayetano asked.
According to her, concerned government agencies such as the Department of Tourism and the Department of Health聽 (DOH) were aware of this scam since this was first raised during a hearing last week.
In fact, she said, the DOH聽 has already sought the assistance of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Google to stop this illegal activity.
鈥淚 also on my own have reached out to Google and also made representations that this is damaging, not only to our reputation, but to the pockets of Filipinos and foreigners who would be victims of this scam,鈥� Cayetano said.
After her speech, Deputy Majority Leader JV Ejercito admitted that he has fallen victim to these fake websites.
鈥淎ctually, I was also victimized by that last July and I almost missed my flight聽 because of this. Noong nag apply po ako ng e-health pass, dito po ako na-direct so I was also聽 victimized鈥︹�澛� said Ejercito, who was then presiding the session.
Also taking聽 the floor, Villanueva informed the body that聽 this One Health Pass (OHP) scam聽 has been going on since early this year or even earlier, citing聽 a travel advisory from the Philippine Consulate General in San Francisco, California聽 issued last March 31, 2022.
He noted also that it was only聽 last November 1 when the OHP was聽 replaced with the eArrival card.
鈥淲e checked the fake websites today and note that they are already down,鈥澛� he said.
Aside from the www.ph-entryform.com earlier mentioned by聽 Cayetano,聽 Villanueva tagged three more聽 fake websites聽 namely: www.philippinesohp.com, www.entranceform-philippines.com,聽 and www.philippines-form.com.
Senator Grace Poe, meanwhile, believes it is now how high time that a single government agency is designated to chase creators and administrators of fake websites.
Aside from the NBI鈥檚 Cybercrime Division, Poe noted that the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has a Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), which was given a P274.73-million budget this year.
The Philippine National Police also has an Anti-Cybercrime Group in charge of all ICT-aided crimes, the head of the Senate committee on public services said.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why it鈥檚 confusing, there鈥檚 no central government office that you can lodge a complaint to on particular cases like this,鈥� Poe lamented.
According to Poe, the central government body could easily direct concerned agencies to act on the complaints based on their jurisdictions, since these fraudulent companies receive payments through credit card transactions.
鈥淒efinitely, there has to be a government agency to direct those banks and credit card companies not to accept or authorize transactions from those fraudulent companies. Maybe that鈥檚 an angle we can look at,鈥� she said.
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