The Department of Justice through the Office of Cybercrime has acted on 150 reports of alleged unfair debt collecting schemes and cyber harassment by online lending companies.
In a report to Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra, OOC Officer-in-Charge Charito Zamora said the 150 reports were “endorsed by the Office of the President-Presidential Management Staff.”
Zamora said the reports were subjected to initial assessment if these are covered by the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 and other related laws, and subjected to “technical surveillance and open-source investigation on the subjects involved.”
She said that if a report warranted a full-blown investigation, it would be endorsed to law enforcement agencies like the National Bureau of Investigation and Philippine National Police.
According to her, some reports were “endorsed to the Securities and Exchange Commission for appropriate action.”
Should a report be ripe for the filing of formal complaints, the victims are advised “to execute a complaint affidavit through a private lawyer, public attorney, or law enforcement authority, for filing with the appropriate prosecution office.”
Last April, the DOJ-OCC had advised the public to report harassment and other illegal schemes by OLCs.
The OOC executive stressed that the advisory was issued “in response to the increasing number of reports received and endorsed to it involving unfair debt collection practices and cyber harassment by online lending companies.”
