House adopts Senate version of anti-scamming bill

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The House of Representatives on Wednesday has adopted the Senate version of a bill seeking to impose penalties against using of financial accounts to commit scams.

Through viva voce voting, the lower chamber approved the adoption of Senate Bill No. 2560 as amendment to House Bill No. 7393. This means that it is now up for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s signature.

Among the prohibited acts under the proposed measure are money muling activities such as opening a financial account under a fictitious name or using the identity of other people; buying, renting, selling, or lending of financial accounts; and recruiting or contracting individuals to perform such activities.

The bill also penalizes social engineering schemes or obtaining sensitive information of another person through fraud, resulting in unauthorized access and control over the person’s financial account.

Also punishable if enacted into law are activities that lead to economic sabotage.

The proposed measure penalizes money muling activities of six to eight years of imprisonment, and a fine of up to P500,000.

For social engineering schemes, a person could be jailed up to 12 years and fined up to P1 million.

Individuals found guilty of economic sabotage could be penalized with life imprisonment and a fine of not less than P2 million.

The proposed Anti-Financial Accounts Scamming Act is one of the priority measures under  the Common Legislative Agenda of the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council of the Marcos administration.—RF, GMA Integrated News

This article House adopts Senate version of anti-scamming bill was originally published in GMA News Online.