The National Privacy Commission (NPC) is investigating data aggregators once more for their supposed part in the continued proliferation of text scams, almost three weeks after the government agency downplayed the role of these data firms in the sham.
NPC Deputy Commissioner Leandro Angelo Y. Aguirre said in an interview with DZMM radio over the weekend that scammers have changed their methods to fool people into giving them sensitive personal details.
“There are now sender IDs again that are, for example, pretending your bank account has been compromised, saying to click this link. SIM (subscriber identification module) cards are not used in these instances. It looks like data aggregators were used,” the NPC official said in mixed English and Filipino.
Sought for comment if this would make it harder for authorities to trace these swindlers, Aguirre said otherwise, reasoning that it was actually more difficult for them to catch those who were using pre-paid SIM cards to send scam text messages.
“These aggregators, we can go to them directly, find out who their clients are, and determine which one of their clients sent the message,” he said further in Filipino.
Liability of aggregators
Asked if data aggregators will automatically be held liable for these privacy intrusions, the NPC official said no, explaining that the blame may lie instead with the client firms whose accounts could have been hacked.
“It’s possible that the official account of ‘XYZ’…
