Cybersecurity advocate Art Samaniego Jr. sees a connection between the recent hacking incident that hit BDO Unibank Inc. and the scam text messages that offered dubious job opportunities.
During an interview in DZRH's Dos Por Dos on Monday, December 13, Samaniego shared his suspicions that only one group perpetrated both incidents since most of the defrauded money went through Unionbank of the Philippines.
"Ang mga pera noon papunta din lahat sa Unionbank," revealed Samaniego, a technology editor for the broadsheet newspaper Manila Bulletin, about the scam text messages.
Samaniego also believes that members of an international crime syndicate perpetrated the scam text messages because of the programming language used in their website.
"Pagkatapos nung sinundan ko sila, nakita ko yung mga website nga mga kriminal na ito, ang gamit na programming language, ang gamit nilang salita doon is dh-cm. Ibig sabihin Chinese with mainland terms," Samaniego explained.
"International crime syndicate ito. Hindi mga Pinoy ang gumagawa ng mga ito. Maaring ito ay ganoon din," he added.
Samaniego also discovered that the perpetrators created at least 20 different bank accounts in Unionbank, which not only used the name Mark D. Nagoya but also the other names of real people, in order to receive the money that they stole from BDO depositors.
Reports stated that Unionbank has already frozen the bank accounts that received the money, and the bank plans to take legal steps against the owners.
BDO already assured that the bank has taken 'additional security controls to block further attempts and continue to protect bank credentials' due to the incident.
The bank also promised to reimburse the losses of the clients
