5 things to know about the GCash incident

GCash said that as of Sunday, it has completed all the necessary wallet adjustments for its affected users.

When did it happen?

Reports said customers of GCash–the dominant e-wallet services provider in the Philippines–started noticing “vanishing funds” on Saturday, November 10, 2024.

Reports of unauthorized transfers

A businessman, a student, and a celebrity were among those who posted that their GCash funds started disappearing. The GCash app, according to them also showed that funds have been transferred to unknown numbers.

In most cases, the GCash app showed that several P1000 fund transfers have been made to the said accounts. Actress Marietta “Pokwang” Subong, in a report, said she lost P85,000 lost to unauthorized transfers.

GCash explains the technical glitch

GCash immediately explained that a technical glitch caused the unauthorized transactions.

Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu emphasized that the unauthorized transactions that affected some GCash users were due to errors in a “system reconciliation process.”

“It’s a reconciliation issue that some wallets were debited inadvertently. Now, what is most important and what we should all focus on is that whatever errors occurred, they were rectified very quickly,” Cu, quoted by Philippine media, said.

GCash also claimed that accounts were restored within 24 hours of the said technical glitch.

In an earlier statement, GCash said that as of Sunday, it has completed all the necessary wallet adjustments for its affected users.

GCash also vowed to work with relevant law enforcement agencies to investigate the incident.

The government steps in

The government has stepped in to address the GCash incident with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) announcing that a probe will be conducted.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in a statement on Monday said it will investigate the reported unauthorized deductions on account balances of GCash users to identify possible vulnerabilities and review compliance with regulations and policies.

The BSP further said it has instructed G-Xchange, Inc. (GXI), the operator of GCash e-wallet, to immediately resolve the unauthorized deductions and to swiftly complete the process of refunds.

The BSP also required GXI to submit regular updates on its actions.

Possible breach?

The CICC, an attached agency of the government’s Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said it is investigating a possible organized breach of certain GCash accounts that resulted in unauthorized fund transfers over the weekend.

In a statement, CICC Executive Director Alexander Ramos said the report filed by actress Marietta “Pokwang” Subong against the mobile payment service provider, allegedly involving P85,000 lost to unauthorized transfers, is more like an organized breach rather than a system glitch.

“She has to confirm and identify whose numbers received the cash. Does she know them or not? It confuses the general public as to the truth of the fact that happened to her GCash account,” Ramos said.

He invited Pokwang and other victims of similar cybercrimes to call the Inter-Agency Response Center (IARC) hotline 1326 to allow the government to address their concerns.

To date, the IARC hotline has received 21 complaints related to unauthorized fund transfers which made the news over the weekend.

“That’s why we are encouraging victims of this organized breach, including Pokwang, to come forward to explain what happened to their accounts,” he said.

In a post on Instagram on Saturday, Pokwang shared that the balance of her GCash account was transferred to almost 30 unregistered mobile numbers.

READ MORE FINTECH NEWS.