The dangers of selling your GCash accounts on social media

As online financial transactions grow, the seemingly harmless trend of selling GCash accounts harbors risks of legal issues, identity theft, and financial losses, signaling a pressing need for awareness and preventive measures

BY ART SAMANIEGO

Apr 10, 2024 10:24 AM

  

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AT A GLANCE

• Selling GCash accounts on social media can lead to serious legal trouble, including criminal charges, because these accounts might be used in scams and money laundering.

• Fraudsters can use sold accounts to hide or move stolen money, making the original account owners unknowingly part of illegal activities.

• The risk of identity theft increases when accounts are sold, putting personal information in danger and potentially implicating sellers in crimes they didn't commit.Financial losses are a significant risk, as scammers can drain sold accounts, leaving the sellers without recourse.

• GCash and law enforcement agencies are actively fighting against the sale of accounts, highlighting the severity of the issue and the push for legal reforms to tackle such scams.

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In a digital age where financial transactions are increasingly moving online, a new trend has emerged on social media platforms like Facebook, where individuals are tempted to sell their GCash accounts for instant cash. This seemingly harmless offer masks many potential dangers, ranging from legal repercussions to identity theft, underscoring the critical importance of understanding the risks associated with such transactions.

 

There's a dangerous trend of offers to buy GCash accounts for quick cash. Don't be tempted! Selling your account can lead to legal issues, identity theft, and financial loss. Protect yourself and your money. 

With millions of account holders, GCash has become a target for scammers looking to exploit its user base. These fraudsters often disguise their intentions, making the sale of GCash accounts appear harmless. However, the consequences of selling a verified GCash account are far from harmless. The practice exposes sellers to serious risks, including criminal charges, financial losses, and reputational damage.

One of the most alarming implications is the potential legal issues. Accounts sold to scammers often become money mules, used to receive and obscure the origins of illicit funds. This can lead to criminal charges and jail time for the sellers, with GCash accounts being instrumental in concealing the identity of fraudsters amassing large sums of money.

 

The sale of these accounts also opens the door to identity theft. Once in the hands of a scammer, personal information is vulnerable to misuse, potentially leading to illegal activities carried out in the seller's name. Their involvement in scams, knowingly or unknowingly, can trap individuals in criminal operations, further complicating their legal and financial situation. Moreover, the act of selling verified accounts implicates individuals in money laundering activities, as these accounts serve to obscure the source of fraudulent funds. This association with criminal activities poses a risk to one's financial security and tarnishes reputations, making individuals appear untrustworthy to future employers or financial institutions.

Privacy is another issue in these transactions. Sellers inadvertently grant strangers access to their personal data, financial history, and transaction records, compromising their privacy and security.

The financial risks are huge, with scammers capable of draining accounts once they gain control. This can leave individuals facing significant financial losses without recourse. Additionally, victims of identity theft used in scams may face legal penalties, further worsening the situation.

In response to these growing concerns, GCash has taken a firm stance against selling or lending e-wallet accounts, highlighting their use by cybercriminals to conduct illicit activities. The company has collaborated proactively with law enforcement agencies, including the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group, the National Bureau of Investigation Cybercrime Division, and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, to clamp down on fraudulent practices.

Atty. Maricor Alvarez-Adriano, Chief Legal Officer at GCash, emphasized the company's commitment to combating this issue. GCash supports enacting the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act (AFASA), which aims to criminalize the sale of financial accounts, phishing, and other forms of scams. This legislative effort is seen as crucial in strengthening the fight against the proliferation of money mules and scams.

Always remember that the sale of verified GCash accounts poses significant risks, not only to the individuals involved but also to the financial system's integrity. As the digital economy continues to evolve, understanding and mitigating these risks becomes crucial in protecting oneself from the potential dangers of cybercrime.

Yes, Friendster is back

by Art Samaniego, MB

This week, the internet was abuzz with talks about the return of once the most favorite social media platform of many Filipinos — Friendster.

Many immediately noticed, including me, that it’s not the original Friendster because it’s using a .click and not the .com domain. My first reaction upon knowing it from my friend Azrael Coladilla was to warn my friends, but after thoroughly checking the site with inputs from Rodel Plasabas of the DICT, I found NO evidence of phishing or scamming. Still, many were not convinced and accused the site of doing illegal online activities, even telling people to stay away from www.friendster.click because a supporter of the Philippine president Bongbong Marcos shared it.

The new Friendster is a fan site of the original Friendster of 2003. Running on the WordPress platform and using BuddyPress plugin, it never claimed to be a part of or affiliated with the original social networking site.

I sent a message to the admin of the page and found out that the owner is Bram Gumilang from Indonesia. A web developer who used to work in IT industry and now builds houses and designs surfboards. 

I found Bram easy to talk with and straightforward when I asked him about Friendster. click. Here’s what we talked about:

Art: Why did you create the “new’ Friendster?

Bram: Friendster always has that kind of nostalgic and sentimental value to me.

Around 2005/2006, when Friendster started implementing its CSS customization feature, I got heavily involved in Friendster-related groups and communities. In 2006 I launched the website Friendster -layouts.com and a community forum friendstertalk.com, which had quite an active userbase until Friendster started losing it’s traction in the social media world. 

So last year when I had a bit of free time I decided to start friendster.click and build it with free/open source platform, because why not. It’s fun to build something, even more fun to see that people are also having fun with it.

Art: What data are you collecting and how will you protect these data?

Bram: Basically the same kind of data collected by websites like facebook, twitter, etc. in order for these kind of sites to operate, but in a much smaller scale. More about this can be read in the site’s privacy policy page.

I’m not a security expert, but I do what any web administrator does to protect websites and databases from intruders, including making sure the web server secure and the systems up to date.

Friendster.click database doesn’t store any sensitive financial information (we don’t ask users to fill in their bank or credit card information or anything like that).

Passwords are stored not in plain text but encrypted with certain hash (that kind of one way encryption is pretty standard in modern web these days), so even if someone has access to the database, the person can never decrypt it. 

Bram, the developer and owner of Friendster.click

Art: Are you planning to sell the data that you have collected?

Bram: No. When the data is stuff like aB0uT mE, zodiac, favorite music, etc., the possibility/value of selling it is not substantial enough that makes it worth ruining your reputation as a web admin.

Art: Many people with no security background claim that the site is collecting data that could be used for phishing attacks. What can you say about this?

Bram: Just like any other site, by default, the site collects data. Browser information, geolocation, cookies, those kind of stuff. For other data that is more specific in nature (including email address, comments, personal information, etc.) it’s up to the users, the way they engage with the site, and how much they want to share about themselves.

I’ve never done any phishing for my personal/financial gain, not at Friendster.click or other sites I manage. I never created a website with that kind of intention.

Art: What do you want to tell the people who accused you of using Friendster to scam users?

Bram: While having a certain resemblance to the original Friendster, it’s quite obvious that the site is fan-made. The site is definitely not being used to run a scam operation, financial fraud, or anything like that.

Art: The site is now becoming popular. What are your future plans for this?

Bram: I have yet to make any future plans for this.

Art: Are you planning to make Friendster.click a complete social media network? Will your future moves include giving Friendster its old glory?

Bram: As long as the site can stay online and grow within a reasonable scale, that would be good enough.

Art: People criticizing your site are concerned about security. Can you assure them that data will be secure and safe?

Bram: No one can actually assure anyone 100% security and safety. Even websites run by corporations and governments can be hacked.

Never post any sensitive/financial information online. No one can steal from you if you don’t make valuable/important data accessible to begin with.

Art: Do you have any message to Friendster.click users?

Bram: I just wanna say thank you for the support and the enthusiasm. It’s a pleasure to see you all around, having fun, making connections, showing off the background pictures and music/video on your profiles, and so on. Let’s keep the Friendster experiences and memories alive.

Art: Thank you, Bram, and I hope to connect with you at Friendster.click.

Bram: Thank you Art.

I checked Friendster.click and it never claimed or pretended to be the Friendster of 2003. It is obviously a fan site that aims to give a nostalgic experience to the former users of the real Friendster. Is Friendster back? Yes, it is back because it never left the hearts of every user. It may not be the real Friendster that we used to love, but it makes us feel again the connection it created among the millions of users all over the world.

So what are you waiting for? Go check www.friendster.click and get those testimonials from friends that we all missed.