Anti-cybercrime agency seizes at least 90K prelisted SIM cards in Pasig

File photo of SIM cards. AFP photo

MANILA, Philippines — The government’s cybercrime probers said Wednesday that about 90,000 pre-registered Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards have been confiscated in a townhouse in Pasig City.

The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) said it is highly possible that the seized SIM cards are being used in syndicated operations and scams.

CICC Undersecretary Alexander Ramos said the pre-registered SIM cards contain complete personal information such as name and address but that all the details are fake.

READ: SIM registration, meant to fight scams, now being used for fraud

“In the past months, in our operations like the one against Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, we saw that pre-registered SIM cards were delivered to them in bulk. So most likely, this one in Pasig, it is the one who manufactures or gathers suppliers then sells the cards wholesale,” Ramos said in a mix of English and Filipino over Radyo 630.

According to Ramos, there are “many ways of doing this” as perpetrators often “falsify registration” or “buy directly from suppliers.”

“[They purchase] about 10 or a hundred and they consolidate [and] deliver [it] to syndicated operations and scams,” he added.

INQUIRER.net has reached out to CICC to ask when their operation at the Pasig City townhouse happened and whether fraudsters behind the scheme were taken into custody, but the agency has yet to respond as of this writing.

READ: Better implementation of SIM card registration law pushed

Recalling one of CICC’s previous raids, Ramos said they apprehended an individual capable of falsifying 300 SIM cards per day.

“Ang pagkaintindi namin ay ang mga [telecommunication entities] ngayon ay nagre-revalidation ng mga nakapag-rehistro na at ang target namin, tulad sa aming napagkasunduan, ay ang isang indibidwal, kapag mahigit sampu ang irerehistro ay ire-red flag na ‘yun,” he said.

(Our understanding is that the [telecommunication entities] are now revalidating those who have already registered, and our target, as we agreed, is that if one individual registers more than 10 SIM cards, it will be red-flagged.)

READ: Selling prelisted SIM cards illegal, agency reminds public