Financial technology (fintech) player GCash announced on Tuesday it is moving confirmation messages from text messages to an in-app inbox to “improve security” and provide customers easier access to their transaction history.
GCash Chief Risk Officer Rose Ann Beroña said transferring the confirmation messages from SMS to in-app will ensure that GCash notifications are legitimate.
“GCash has been relentless in protecting the funds and personal data of our customers. Migrating the transaction confirmation messages from text messages to the app inbox will help ensure users are only getting legitimate messages regarding their GCash transactions,” she said.
The in-app messages will start in September starting with confirmation messages for bills payment. Money transfers and airtime top up confirmation messages will also be migrated at a later time.
“Aside from improving security, we hope this move makes the experience of GCash users more seamless and convenient as we strive to make their everyday lives better.”
She added that the fintech player is “ramping up efforts against fraudsters and scammers,” but is also reminding its 66 million users to be “extra vigilant when making transactions.”
Beroña said part of its security campaign is the deployment of “state-of-the-art and real-time risk monitoring to capture various suspicious activities.”
GCash is also blacklisting accounts with fraudulent transactions.
It has also partnered with the Philippine National Police–Anti-Cybercrime Group as well as the National Bureau of Investigation Cybercrime Division (NBI-CCD), and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).
Beroña said the company is “also building an insurance portfolio to make their experience safer than ever including an Online Shopping Insurance which would protect users from online selling scams.”