MANILA -- The Cybercrime Investigation Coordination Council is looking at the creation of a task force that will go specifically against online and text scammers, an official said Wednesday.

DICT Assistant Secretary Renato Paraiso said the CICC is set to meet Wednesday to discuss the creation of the task force.

“Pinapalakas natin ang CICC in terms of the investigation and apprehension pinag-iisipan na rin ho at mamaya ay magpupulong ang Cybercrime Investigation Coordination Council na pinamumunuan ang Secretary ng DICT at kasama ng ibang ahensya to discuss a task force to be formed para sugpuin ang mga online text scams na ito,” Paraiso said in a televised interview.

Aside from this, the CICC is also strengthening and improving its Inter-Agency Response Center (I-ARC) Hotline 1326 for the public to report cases of online scams.

Paraiso said that while the SIM Card Registration Act worked to discourage text scammers, many of them shifted to online messaging apps that do not require sim cards to be able to register.

“Yung sim card registration took out their anonymity, kaso nag-adapt na rin ho ang mga online scammers natin. Hindi na sila gumagamit ng call or text. Ginagamit na nila ang mga over the top services o yung mga Viber, Messenger na gumagamit ng internet, na kapag nagregister kayo dito, hindi nyo na kailangan ng valid sim card,” he said.

The DICT official meanwhile reminded the public to be vigilant against online scams, including suspicious links being sent online or via text messages, and to be wary of individuals asking for OTPs (one time passwords) which will allow them to get access to a person’s financial accounts or records.