After being wrongly tagged as suspect in Quiapo road rage shooting incident, Nestor Punzalan fell prey to identity theft.
A Facebook account bearing the name and photo of Punzalan is being used by online thieves to extort money, his lawyer DJ Jimenez said.
“Indeed the effect of online bashing and irresponsible posting and misreporting have grave consequences. The saga of Nestor Punzalan continuous,” he said.
The poser of Punzalan would use his situation to ask for financial assistance via private message to various people on Facebook.
Jimenez added that Punzalan is still coping with the harm and damage done to him, and has even deactivated his Facebook account.
“He has not consented nor is responsible to any similar scheme or solicitation, and therefore warns those responsible for this online identity theft that they will – hopefully – be prosecuted accordingly,” the lawyer said.
He also called on Congress to push for a prepaid SIM card registration measure, especially for those intended for online use.
“That’s the problem without any prepaid registration. Even if the account is taken down, he or she can create a new account and go online again,” he said.
He added that there should be stricter implementation of the Cyber Crime Prevention Act of 2012 “to hold those responsible for identify theft, among other offenses, responsible.”
Jimenez said they are set to file before the Department of Justice Cybercrime Task Force a case against TopGear Philippines, which posted on its Facebook page a photo of Punzalan’s car and his Facebook account.
(JAIMIE ROSE R. ABERIA)