prepaid sim card registration

2644 (or Prepaid SIM Card Registration) is "an act of requiring the registration of the buyers of prepaid SIM cards, and providing penalties for the violation thereof". Filed in January 20, 2011, the bill seeks to address some "text messaging related scams" and other crimes that involve the use of disposable prepaid SIM cards. 2644 said that prepaid SIM cards are used by criminals in committing money-making activities such as e-raffle and random lottery. Prepaid SIM cards, he added, have also become a tool of the so-called “dugong-dugong” gang to commit robbery or extort money from their victims. The bill proposes that all sellers of prepaid SIM cards will require buyers to present government issued identification cards and record all personal information of the buyer. Already wrote my piece about SIM card registration here before. This is not new since telcos are already doing SIM card registration to all postpaid users -- over 2 million subscribers are required to register their name and address when getting a postpaid SIM card. The Philippine government is considering requiring people to register their SIM cards in-person to make identity verification more secure. Read more in our articles including "Senate Bill No. 2644: SIM Card Registration" and "NTC may require in-person SIM registration".