Safety first: GCash shields Filipinos from online scams with 'i-Legit Check Muna' campaign

Finance super app GCash reminds users to take a pause and verify the legitimacy of the person they are sending money to prior to making an Express Send Transaction.

MANILA, Philippines — This holiday season, deals and discounts abound online, and most online shoppers are scrambling to make the most out of promos and finish off their gift lists. When people are in such a hurry to grab a deal and forget to check if the seller is real, they become the perfect target for scammers.

Financial super app GCash is empowering Filipinos to protect themselves against online shopping scams by educating them about fake sellers and encouraging them to use the express send checkbox for send money transactions to take a pause and verify the legitimacy of the person they are sending money to.

“GCash remains committed to protecting users from losing their hard-earned money to scams. We want to work hand in hand with Filipinos in helping them secure their e-wallet: by arming them with knowledge about the prevalence of fake sellers and how to spot online scams so they can confidently transact online,” Ingrid Beroña, chief risk officer at Gcash, said.

GCash urges users to make it a habit to ensure that their sellers are legitimate before paying for their product. To complement its effort of educating consumers, GCash also introduces the Express Send Checkbox for Send Money transactions, a unique feature designed to help users pause and verify the legitimacy of the person they are sending money to prior to making an Express Send transaction.

I-Legit Check Muna

Online shopping has become a preferred choice for many Filipinos. Aside from e-commerce platforms, sellers have also set up their spaces on social media sites. However, the availability of more online platforms make users more vulnerable to scammers.

GCash advises users to watch out for common signs that might indicate that an online shopper is a fraud. Fake sellers may have little to no account history, have a new seller profile, or sell their products at very low prices compared to the average market price.

To avoid this, GCash advises users to do a “legit check” on the seller’s profile by doing the following:

• Check the sellers’ reviews, and previous transactions.
   
• Check the sellers’ profile to see when the page was created. If it’s a new account selling hundreds of other items, it may be a fake seller.
   
• Check the price of the item with at least two more sellers selling the same product. If the item is priced much lower than the other sellers, best not to complete the transaction.

While everyone is either in high spirits or frazzled during the holidays, doing a “legit check” helps stop Filipinos from falling victim to fake and malicious sellers.

Express Send Checkbox

While fake sellers try hard to trick customers, sometimes Filipinos fall into scams merely because of impulse buys. After all, the ease of buying online is made more enticing by irresistible deals.

With the added Express Send Checkbox feature, GCash aims to remind users to take a pause and take time to review the information of the recipient before proceeding with the transaction.

The Express Send Checkbox feature appears after a GCash user enters the amount they are sending and the GCash number of their recipient. Users are asked to tick the box to confirm that they have reviewed the person they are sending money to, and that they are sending the amount to the right person.

“The Express Send Checkbox goes beyond ensuring users have confirmed the details. We want to instill the habit of legit-checking among GCash users, such that it becomes second nature for them to confirm the legitimacy of an online seller even before considering sending money through their GCash app,” Beroña noted.

Through extensive education on potential online selling scams and the new security feature, GCash hopes more users will spread the solution and consistently do their part in protecting their e-wallets.

If you encounter phishing scams and fraudulent activities targeting your GCash account, you may report this by visiting the official GCash Help Center in the app or at help.gcash.com, messaging Gigi, and typing, “I want to report a scam.”

Editor’s Note: This press release is sponsored by GCash. It is published by the Advertising Content Team that is independent from our Editorial Newsroom.