The Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group arrests a Malaysian caught selling illegal text blasting equipment in an entrapment operation at Parañaque City on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025. (Photo from PNP ACG)
MANILA, Philippines — The text blast machine confiscated from a 46-year-old Malaysian caught allegedly selling the device to send fraudulent messages to thousands of people was a “new technology.”
This is the observation of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) of the Department of Information and Communications Technology.
In a joint press conference on Wednesday, the CICC, the Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP ACG) and the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) announced it arrested the suspect in Parañaque City at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.
“This is not a local product. This is not locally assembled. Complete na sya nung dinala dito (referring to the equipment),” CICC Executive Director Alexander Ramos said at the press conference.
(It was complete when it was brought here.)
The machine is also referred to as an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) catcher.
“This is a new version ng IMSI catcher. Ang idea natin, malaki, kinakarga sa sasakyan. Ito, mobile. Magkakasya sya sa backpack,” Ramos pointed out.
(This is a new version of the IMSI catcher. Our idea of it is big, loaded onto vehicles. This one is mobile. It will fit in a backpack.)
“Makabagong technology itong kanilang in-introduce sa atin. Once it is up and running, ino-overcome niya yung signal ng mga cell sites,” he noted.
(This is new a technology which they introduced to us. Once it is up and running, it overcomes the signals of cell sites.)
At the press conference in Camp Crame, DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy said the type of equipment confiscated was used in scamming operations posing as telecommunication companies, banks and job recruiters.
PNP ACG operatives discovered the suspect in October through his Facebook page.
The suspect was advertising a short message service (SMS) blaster machine that can mass broadcast without a database, a subscriber identity module (SIM) card or a Wi-Fi connection.
The suspect was selling the device at P600,000.
According to ACG Spokesperson Lt. Wallen Arancillo, apart from the Philippines, the suspect also sold this type of equipment in Cambodia, China and Thailand.
“Nakita namin na sya yung nag-post sa mismong Facebook page na sya daw yung ‘bestseller’ when it comes to selling this kind of device,” Arancillo said.
(We saw that he himself posted on his Facebook page that he was supposedly the ‘bestseller’ when it comes to selling this kind of device.)
The suspect faces charges for violating the Cybercrime Prevention Act, Philippine Radio Station and Radio Communication Act, the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration Act and the Data Privacy Act.