Senator’s son loses savings to scam

MANILA, Philippines — A son of Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito reportedly lost his savings after falling victim to scammers last month.

Ejercito said yesterday that his son, Emilio, who is in his early 20s, lost more than half of his P120,000 savings when someone called him after he received his credit card.

“This happened even with SIM registration and I think it’s an inside job because the scammer knew my son’s information... My son suffers trauma,” Ejercito said in a Zoom interview.

The senator noted that the government has mandated the registration of SIM cards from Dec. 27, 2022 to July 26, 2023 under Republic Act 11934.

Registering SIM cards is supposed to curb text fraud.

Ejercito said they have reported the loss to the National Bureau of Investigation’s cybercrime division.

He called on banks to look into the scam, noting that the caller had Emilio’s pertinent information, which convinced his son that the call was legitimate. Emilio gave the caller his one-time pin, according to the senator.

Ejercito said that if the Department of Information and Technology “really needs intelligence funds (to fight) fraud and cybercrime, I would support it. Many people we know have been scammed.”

Scammers “are targeting the vulnerable, young people, senior citizens and house helpers,” Ejercito said.

He added that he would ask Sen. Mark Villar, who chairs the Senate committee on banks and financial institutions, to look into the incident.