House called to probe GCash fiasco, demand full explanation from execs
MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker has filed a resolution urging the House of Representatives to investigate the apparent cyber theft attempt on users of e-wallet GCash this week and the possible app “vulnerabilities” that allowed several unauthorized transactions to clear.
This comes after GCash users publicly aired concerns on Tuesday about the unauthorized deductions that funneled money from their e-wallet to unidentified accounts affiliated with East West Bank and Asia United Bank.
While GCash representatives have ruled out hacking and claimed no fund loss from the incident, Rep. Bernadette Herrera (Bagong Henerasyon Party-list), the author of the resolution, said that she is “not satisfied” with the firm’s statements, which she also called “inconsistent.”
“First, GCash said there was no hacking in their first public statement. Second, they said cash of the accountholders were not missing or stolen,” Herrera said.
“But the reports of the accountholders themselves show the exact amount of unauthorized withdrawals and transfers from their accounts, so money left those accounts without their authority,” Herrera added.
Herrera also cited the Philippine Daily Inquirer’s exclusive report that found up to P37 million in funds were transferred out of GCash users’ e-wallets into two bank accounts.
“Apparently, what GCash did was reversal of transactions after the unauthorized transactions were made,” Herrera added.
House Resolution 963 calls on the appropriate House committee to conduct an inquiry in aid of legislation on the incident, including summoning GCash executives to Congress to explain what happened and how it can be prevented in the future.
The resolution also calls on the House to explore legislative measures to protect GCash and other e-wallet users from a similar incident, in consultation with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Department of Trade and Industry and the National Privacy Commission
By Tuesday afternoon, GCash had restored the fund balance of affected customers, but the chorus of complaints on social media has prompted some users to say they are withdrawing their funds from the app altogether.
In April, another lawmaker, Rep. Edwin Olivarez (Parañaque City), filed a House resolution calling to investigate the risks of using digital financial services are several reports of missing funds from the e-wallets of GCash and Maya users.
At the time, more than 30 incidents of sudden fund deductions were lodged with the Philippine National Police’s Anti-Cybercrime unit, according to the resolution.
Rep. Arlene Brosas (Gabriela Partylist) has also expressed her intent on filing a resolution to investigate the "online scams" and how digital banking applications are working to address the apparent breaches in their system.
GCash is among the several fintech platforms that benefited from the rise in popularity of cashless transactions triggered by the e-commerce boom of the COVID-19 pandemic. — With reports by Ramon Royandoyan
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