Gordon urges banks to impose stringent measures vs online bank theft

Re-electionist Senator Richard J. Gordon has underscored that banks should enforce tighter online security to prevent hackers from stealing from accounts in light of recent incidents of online bank fraud.

Gordon, who chairs the Senate Justice and Human Rights Committee, remarked that banks should be more proactive in keeping their customers' trust as a keepsake of their financial assets.

"Para mapigilan yan, habulin natin yung nang-scam. Butas ang batas. Hindi ineenforce. Ang dami nating batas, hindi naman ine-enforce. Pwedeng estafa, swindling. Nakalagay sa gobyerno natin, meron tayong bank secrecy [law]... yung babayaran ka, may insurance, 'yung [Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation]," he said in a recent radio senatorial forum.

"It's a relationship of trust. Kung nawawala yan, tungkulin ng bangko, sila mismo, ang maghanap ng paraan para mahuli ang mga scammers na ito," he added.

Recently, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) opened a probe against two leading banks for illegal wire transfer and theft.

Unlike previous instances of fraud where customers supplied sensitive details such as account number and the one-time password (OTP), many claimed that they were only notified of loss of cash upon successful transfer of money.

Reports stated that the wire transfers were sent to a certain "Mark Nagoyo," whose last name literally translates into "being duped or swindled" in Filipino.

Gordon, a lawyer by profession, said he hopes that the government sharpen its teeth with the enforcement of cybercrime-related laws and the deterrence of the proliferation of false information on social media.

"Ang society natin ay ginagaya ang buong mundo, pawang mga kasinungalingan, pawang mga fake news ang umiiral, dapat may batas," he pointed out.

"Dapat tayo ay magkaroon ng enforcement ng Data Privacy Act at Cybercrime Prevention Act. Maraming batas, kulang sa enforcement," he added.

Gordon has fallen victim to several cybercrimes, including a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against his official website, dickgordon.ph, during the height of the Senate investigation on an anomalous government procurement deal.

He has also been a constant target of trolls parroting false statements made by political detractors, rehashing issues that have long been settled or blown out of proportion.