MANILA -- GCash said a "product issue" forced it to go through a "system reconciliation process" after customers reported unauthorized transactions over the weekend.

Gilda Maquilan, Vice President for Corporate Communications and Public Affairs at the fintech giant, said it all started at 11 p.m. on November 8, when they noticed a spike in the use of their Send Ang Pao product.

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The Send Ang Pao, she said, allows users to send money to multiple users for gift-giving on occasions like Christmas.

"'Pag nagsend ka po ng Ang Pao na pang-regalo ito po ay papasok sa tinatawag na temporary wallet. Pagka ito ay na-receive lang po o nagpasalamat yung recipient, yung nakatanggap ng aguinaldo, saka lang po ito malilipat sa wallet niya," she explained.

"So nakita po namin ‘yan na hindi pa naman Pasko, hindi naman Chinese New Year, eh bakit tumataas ang ating transaction po dyan?" she asked.

Maquilan said this prompted them to conduct an investigation.

"Nakita namin yung wallet ay bloated. Ibig sabihin noon, unusual ito. Yung rate ng pasok ng pera ay hindi tugma sa paglabas. Walang nagrereceive po nung, walang tumatanggap ng aguinaldo," she said.

The executive said it was in the wee hours of the morning on November 9, Saturday, when they received calls from customers who said there were Send Ang Pao transactions on their accounts--when they did not send any money.

"So nai-connect namin. At dahil dito sinwitch-off kaagad namin yung product feature na ‘yun at nag-imbestiga na kami."

"And doon sa aming paunang imbestiga, ruled out po ang phishing, ruled po ang data breach, at we ruled out account takeover. Ito po ay isang product issue," she stressed. 

"Ito po yung meron pong pagkakamali doon sa produkto, at this point kagaya nga ng tinanong...human error ba ‘to? Technical ba issue? ito po ay technical issue. At ito po ay for further validation," she said.

Maquilan also stressed that GCash returned the money to their affected clients within 24 hours.

"Ibinalik po natin yung pera, so from detection, investigation resolution, swift po ang action natin dyan," she said.

Maquilan said they immediately reported the incident to the Bangko Sentral ng PIlipinas (BSP) on Saturday. She also said they voluntarily gave updates to the Department of Information and Communications Technology and Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC.)

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The executive said the investigation is still ongoing. She also said that BSP officials are in the office to join their probe. 

The executive said she hopes Filipinos will continue to trust GCash.

She also assured the public that the company is taking steps to prevent this from happening again.

"Patuloy naman po kami nag-iimprove in terms of technology, nag-iinvest sa technology, pati rin po sa tao, at 24/7 na binabantayan yang pera ng ating mga customers. Kahit ano pa pong hamon yan," she said.

She also said that they continue  to work with the BSP, DICT, CICC to educate consumers on how to live in the digital age.

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