Despite millions worth of funds having been illicitly transferred from people’s accounts, GCash offered no explanation as to how and why the incident occurred. Now, one of the affected victims is asking the digital wallet provider for an explanation.
Laban TNVS President Jun De Leon was among the 300 unlucky individuals who were shocked to learn about the unauthorized transfer of GCash funds to a certain bank account on Tuesday.
In response to the concern, GCash underwent maintenance to reverse the illegitimate money transfers but claims that no hacking took place. Subsequently, the mobile wallet provider sent out its apologies due to the inconvenience caused.
But the disgruntled De Leon is not content with merely getting their temporarily lost funds back—he wanted GCash to shed light as to the hows and whys of the incident, emphasizing how doing so could regain the public’s trust.
Via an interview with ANC, GCash Public Affairs and Communication Head Gilda Maquila revealed that the affected parties had “unknowingly accessed a phishing link.”
Speaking to Headstart, Maquila mentions a “deluge of texts” and a merchant site posing as a certain bank as the causes of the phishing incident.
Maquila further unveiled that, by closer observation, the illegal money transfer did not take place on the same day as the phishing incident happened. But the perpetrator has successfully managed to dupe its unwitting victims to link their devices where OTPs were sent, leading to the eventual money transfers.
GCash is reportedly going after the fraudsters by working with the National Bureau of Investigations (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).