Several GCash users reported suspicious withdrawals from their accounts on the digital wallet platform late Monday, May 8.
The users were unaware of these withdrawals, and the pattern ended with the money being sent to two recipient bank accounts - EastWest Bank and Asia United Bank.
The fraudulent transactions were estimated to add up to ₱37 million. The affected GCash users reported having up to tens of thousands of pesos taken from them individually.
An anonymous ranking Globe official said that the transactions were averted, immediately putting a hold order on the following transfers as they saw the pattern.
GCash suspended its services around midnight on May 9 and was only accessible by late morning. The suspension of services allowed GCash to handle the cybertheft crime that occurred.
However, the Filipinos’ daily lives were affected by the inability to use the most popular e-wallet in the Philippines, boasting 81 million users.
“The money is intact, and everything will be returned to our clients,” the official assured, adding that it is their priority to respond proactively to their client’s problems with the app to maintain the public’s trust in the e-wallet giant.
“We’d like to reassure everyone that there’s no fund loss,” said Gilda Maquilan, company vice president for corporate communications, in an early morning interview with ABS-CBN’s DZMM Teleradyo on May 9.
Maquilan assured that the affected users will have the amount credited to their accounts by 3 pm.
At around 4:30 pm, GCash announced that all funds were returned to the affected users.
Sources: Inquirer.net, Philstar.com
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