BSP launches exhibit on financial scam

CEBU, Philippines - Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas yesterday launched an exhibit to increase public awareness on financial fraud and scam.

Dubbed as “AlertoAko”, BSP assistant governor Johnny Noe Ravalo said the exhibit features several financial scams, the forms they take and how to avoid being victimized.

This campaign, BSP claimed, is a proactive measure to present to the public the different types of financial frauds and scams to avoid it and spread the information in the immediate community that they are part of.

“This is a rolling caravan. We launched it here in Cebu and will be heading to the head office before going to the designated areas in localities. The greatest consideration in the population so that we can maximize the exhibit,” Ravalo said.

According to the BSP official, the most common among all the scams and frauds is the ATM (automated teller machine) duplication.

This, he explained, is because the data stored in the magnetic strip found at the back portion of the card could be copied as opposed to a chip which is the ideal data storage in an ATM card.

“The banking industry has developed and will soon be adopting triple desk. This has three layers of IT security feature which makes it hard to access an electronic data. This will be required next year,” Ravalo said.

He said the victim must file a formal complaint because BSP could not act on behalf of the bank account owner.

“Those who have experienced fraud or scam must formalize their complaint. We receive a lot of complaints via our call center but not everybody files a formal complaint. It is very important that they cooperate with BSP and their bank, they must also bring supporting documents that will back their formal complaint which proves that they did not authorize the transaction under their account,” he said.

He advised the public to pay extra attention on the transaction details like keeping track of dates and times of transactions as these are necessary information should they file a formal complaint.

The exhibit in Cebu will be open to the public until September 4 at the BSP regional office along Osmeña Boulevard in Cebu City. The public may enter the BSP compound in Cebu from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.— (FREEMAN)