With the recent spate of scam text messages, GCash ramps up user security by anonymizing or hiding the usernames of accounts during send money transactions.
Scam text messages have started using full names of the intended victims with fake job offers, lucky prizes, and other “too-good-to-be-true” offerings with the intention of having them open a compromised link.
The public was concerned that the source of the names could have been a breach. But this was dismissed by the National Privacy Commission, who found out that cybercriminals have been using GCash (along with Viber) to harvest names for text scams. Previously, you can find out a user’s name by entering their mobile number during express send transactions. It was intended to be a feature to verify the names of the recipient.
To protect its users, GCash has started anonymizing usernames during transactions when they found out that perpetrators where using it for scams.
See also: Smart partners with NPC and NBI to combat text scammers
Recently, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) asked Smart Communications, Globe, and DITO Telecommunity to address the smishing and scam text messages that have been plaguing the public.
