MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian on Wednesday said the upper chamber will launch an inquiry into credit card fraud and other unauthorized bank transactions.
A statement released by Gatchalian's office said the probe seeks to amend existing laws with necessary mechanisms to protect consumers from nefarious individuals.
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"Aside from consumer protection, there are a number of issues that need to be addressed especially on the aspect of cybersecurity — the challenges and best practices," Gatchalian, who is vice chairman of the Senate committee on banks, said.
"Banks are very attractive targets for hackers and scammers especially during this time of the pandemic."
Gatchalian said the probe would also focus on the steps undertaken by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) as well as other banks in safeguarding the interests of consumers.
"Since we revealed the victimization of my credit card until now the influx of complaints received by my office from the victims of unauthorized online bank fund transfers and credit card transactions has not stopped," Gatchalian said in Filipino.
"The poor victims do not know where to file their grievances. In addition, there is a lack of a quick process to address their complaints immediately," he added in Filipino.
On January 6, Gatchalian revealed that his credit card was hacked and used to order P1 million worth of food from Food Panda.
"The hacker managed to change my registered phone number so he got the [one-time passwords]. He knew what he was doing. I just don't know how he will eat a million worth of food," he said on Twitter then.
The senator has since filed a complaint at the National Bureau of Investigation over the incident.