Reward – a bounty for scammers

Now more than ever before have I seen so many fake or scam ads on META/Facebook that were AI-generated faces and voices of the country’s top businessmen, as well as the President, being used to fool people to invest on a limited offer.

Among those who have been victimized or used are Ramon Ang, Lance Gokongwei, Enrique Razon and President Bongbong Marcos. Even media personalities like Mel Tiangco and Tony Velasquez have seen their AI counterfeits misrepresent them.

I have actually reported these fakes to META/Facebook but the only response I got was that the ads complied with community standards. What are the chances that there is a program or system that intercepts those reports, so the legitimate FB/META regulators don’t even receive them?

All these tend to prove or substantiate the claim that the online AI scammers are so advanced that it is next to impossible for regulators to track, charge or shut them down, especially if they are state-sponsored scammers or BOTs.

What complicates the situation is how deficient the platform management or executives are in simplifying the reporting process, how it lacks transparency and relies mainly on apps and bots to “process” reports and complaints.

Or is it only in the Philippines where we don’t have strict laws like in the EU and US where social media platforms have been fined millions of dollars for violations on privacy and sharing users’ data to vendors and advertisers?

Honestly, I am from the analog age so it’s hard for me to figure out what can or cannot be done. But do we simply say “Clicker Beware” or work only in a “Cash Only” environment with no digital transactions? It’s too late for that.

A few weeks ago, after being retained by President Bongbong Marcos, the Secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology Henry Aguda mused or spoke of the need for legislation that will give the DICT teeth to deal with digital scams and abuses.

I remember when a congressional hearing last invited representatives of Google to comment on shared responsibility for “fake news.” As good as the legislators may have intended, they invited the “problem” to solve the problem.

They should have first done their homework or researched on all the current or up to date laws and regulations in the EU, US and Singapore concerning responsibilities and obligations of social media platforms. The legislators simply had to harvest what works – originality not required!

I am confident that Secretary Aguda is on the right path and has the skills to do so. But in order to do so he will have to gather all the politically and financially and digitally powerful people in the country to address the matter.

I titled today’s column “Reward – a bounty for scammers” as a suggestion to adopt the western/cowboy solution of putting up a bounty or reward for anyone who tracks down, identifies or “pins” a scammer within the country.

The reward can also be given to people who design systems to counterattack, shut down or fight online saboteurs or scammers. I make the suggestion because we have all been relying on conventional solutions such as “reporting” to META, etc., filing a complaint or just blocking.

I recently met members of ISOG or The Information Security Officers Group which consists of chief information security officers or CISOs and after an all-day session, I left with an impression that the Philippines has highly qualified cybersecurity experts.

But what we don’t have is shared concern on how extensive and destructive cyber criminality is in the country. Everybody is concerned, everybody is doing what needs to be done to defend themselves and “their own.” But we have no unified or “nationalized” program to protect all. I don’t even know if we have accurate information on how many hundred of millions or billions of pesos have been stolen from millions of Filipinos and companies.

Aside from getting big business and government to put up a “bounty” for digital scammers, I have not seen, viewed or heard any educational or informational material on spotting scams and financial literacy. Malacañang should use its resources towards this and not political propaganda.

Perhaps Secretary Henry Aguda can lead a movement to get away from the “SILOS” solution and develop an inter-generational, across the board unification of “forces” to fight cybercrime and scammers.

Maybe I’ve seen too many movies, but imagine what could happen if every unemployed Gen Z key board warrior was motivated to be a “digital bounty hunter?” How impossible is it for the Top 20 most powerful in Philippine business to actually agree to offer cash for “digital scalps” of online scammers.

Yes, I am showing my bias for Liam Neeson and his classic lines in the movie “Taken,” but his 40-second monologue has imprinted in the minds of millions of people whose money have been “Taken:”

“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are skills I have acquired over a long career, skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.

“If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you. I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you.”

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