Personal appearance may become a requirement for SIM registration
Filipinos may later be required to register their SIM (subscriber identity module) cards in person to make identity verification easier as the government finds ways to deter individuals from illegally selling their IDs for fraudulent activities.
The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), in a statement on Tuesday, said it was set to hold a comprehensive review of proposals to improve the implementation of the SIM Registration Act.
These include requiring the SIM card owner to be present during registration, similar to when Filipinos apply for a driving license and National Bureau of Investigation clearance.
“The current online registration process has faced criticism as a contributing factor to the surge in text scams, where unscrupulous individuals exploit the system to sell their identities to others,” the NTC said.
Both the regulator and telecommunication companies have raised concerns over the selling of preregistered SIM cards, which can be used for text scams.
Penalties
Those found guilty of this crime can face prison time ranging from six months to six years and/or fines of P100,000 up to P300,000.
The NTC previously issued a memorandum directing telco players to improve their “systems for SIM registration and implement specific measures to validate SIMs already registered.”
The regulator said it had also proposed a provision “granting the Commission the authority to periodically regulate the number of SIM ownership and possibly limit the acceptable number of valid government-issued identification cards” last year as a safety measure.
In addition, it recommended the development of a platform where telco players may validate the identity of SIM registrants using government-issued IDs.
Alexander Ramos, Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center executive director, told reporters in Makati on Tuesday that the government was studying how to establish an ID database that telco players could access during the authentication process.
“It must not be on one level only. It must be a multiple authentication process,” he said, citing the need for multiple IDs for identity verification.
Ramos added that the government was “cleansing” the SIM card registry as text scams have remained prevalent.
According to an October 2024 report by Global Anti-Scam Alliance, Filipinos lost $8.1 billion, or nearly P460 billion, in the past 12 months due to scams mostly launched via text messages.
On average, Filipino victims each lost $275—or about P16,000—because of scams.
