How to report scammers in GCash

Having noticed how reliant we’ve become on digital financial services, bad actors online are constantly creating all sorts of new scams to trick us out of our money. Even our GCash wallets are targeted, often through phishing links, spoofed messages, and social engineering tactics to retrieve MPINs. Should someone pull a scam on you in a GCash transaction, here’s how you can report it.

Use GCash Customer Support

First, gather all documents, screenshots, receipts, and other evidence that support your claim. Next, you need to contact the GCash customer service as soon as possible.

When you’re asked to submit a ticket, select the appropriate concern category available. These categories include My GCash Account > I want to report an unauthorized transaction in my account, My GCash Account > I want to report an account involved with fraudulent activity, or My GCash Account > I was scammed.

You may also call GCash via the official phone channel at 2882 for guided assistance. Depending on the type of scam involved, you may also need to file a dispute or complaint form.

After receiving your report, along with other necessary documents, GCash will begin an investigation to determine the validity of your complaint. Expect to hear from GCash within five days on the results of their investigation. A representative may also notify you if there’s a delay.

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GCash Customer Protect Program

By promptly reporting a fraudulent transaction to GCash, you may be eligible for its Customer Protect Program. It’s an assurance to customers by GCash that it will compensate for lost or stolen funds due to unauthorized financial transactions, which include unauthorized online, point-of-sale, or ATM transactions. The program also guarantees that customers won’t be held liable even if these transactions were made from their accounts.

But note that there are limitations to the protection. For starters, fully verified users are only covered for up to Php100,000. Consider this as one important reason to verify your identity aside from increasing your transaction and wallet limits. For basic users, it’s just up to Php2,000.

The Customer Protect Program won’t also be of help on unauthorized transactions that have only been reported more than fifteen days from the date of transaction. If the investigation also finds gross negligence on your part that led to the unauthorized transaction, or if the point of compromise is outside the GCash platform, then you’re out of luck.

In addition, the program won’t reimburse you if you’ve been swindled (i.e., the seller or service provider didn’t deliver the goods or service you expected) in a transaction that you initiated. You should still report the transaction though, as this may be used by GCash as grounds for terminating the account of the offending party/seller.

Report GCash scammers to the authorities

Outside the platform, you may report GCash-related scams to the authorities. Several government agencies have online forms, or have at least published the procedures online, for filing a cybercrime complaint:

• Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center
• Department of Justice
• National Bureau of Investigation
• Philippine National Police – Anti-Cybercrime Group

Avoid falling victim to scams and fraud involving GCash

In May 2022, the mobile wallet service found in a joint effort with the NBI and PNP that over 900,000 users participated in fraud from January to March 2022 alone. Their GCash accounts have been terminated accordingly. The sheer number of fraudulent users from that period alone should be a cause for alarm for legitimate regular users, who need to increase their awareness and learn how to avoid falling victim to online scams.

GCash recommends its users to follow these security measures:

• Do not reveal to anyone your MPIN and one-time passwords, especially to scammers pretending to be family members, friends, or service representatives. OTPs could be used to reset your MPIN and lock you out of your account.
• Make sure you’re transacting inside the official app and not on a phishing website that’s made to look like GCash. Disregard messages with suspicious links or messages that urge you to install third-party apps.
• Make sure the seller you’re transacting with has a credible reputation. Check if the texts, calls, and email messages that you received come from official contact details instead of coming from random-looking email addresses and phone numbers.

That’s it. Did we miss anything? If you have any questions or suggestions, let us know in the comments.