In line with efforts to combat scammers and fraudsters, financial app GCash further intensified their security measures by migrating transaction confirmation messages to the app inbox and removes clickable links in all emails and text messages to users.

GCash said they are removing clickable links in official emails and text messages sent to customers followed by an aggressive information campaign that users will no longer receive messages from GCash that contain website links.

These come on the heels of the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) order to block links in text messages which is seen as a significant deterrent against scammers. 

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), for its part, also called on its regulated financial institutions to undertake several steps in cracking down on cyber fraud and other attacks to financial services.

"These changes are in line with our own #SafeWithGCash campaign that aims to ramp up investments, partnerships, as well as educational and awareness programs on keeping our services safe and secure for our 69 million users,” said Martha Sazon, President and Chief Executive Officer of GCash. 

“The safety of our users is our utmost priority and we continue to invest and implement world-class security measures to protect customer data,” she added.

The confirmation SMS for the ‘Send Money’ service will be moved from text message inbox to users’ app inbox. 

It will be followed by ‘Buy Load’ and ‘Bank Transfer’ by October 12. These messages will also be available in the ‘Transactions’ button on the app. Customers have been informed of these changes through official text messages and in-app reminders.

“Migrating the transaction confirmation messages will help ensure users are getting only legitimate messages regarding their GCash transactions,” explained Ingrid Rose Ann Beroña, Chief Risk Officer of GCash.

Just recently, GCash rolled out a feature update that anonymizes the names of recipients in the send money service to provide an added layer of customer protection. In the past, the name of the person is seen as an added measure of convenience and helps verify that the recipient is correct. 

These initiatives are also in line with efforts of the Globe Group to combat scammers. Globe has announced that it will be blocking text messages with links, which is the common platform that scammers use.

Likewise, Globe has spent $20 million or about P1.1 billion to boost its capabilities in detecting and blocking scam and spam messages. 

Through aggressive 24/7 efforts, Globe has blocked 610 domains or URLs, 784 million scam and spam messages from January to July this year, deactivated 14,058 scam-linked SIMs as well blacklisted 8,973 others. Catherine Cueto