Senator Gatchalian’s credit card hacked

BY VANNE TERRAZOLA

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian’s credit card has been hacked by a user who supposedly ordered P1 million worth of food from a food delivery service application within an hour.

“My credit card has just been hacked! May nag order ng P1 [million] worth of food sa Food Panda in less than an hour. Ano ‘yan lauriat para sa buong barangay?,” Gatchalian disclosed on Twitter Wednesday.

Based on the transaction details the senator tweeted, the hacker purchased on Tuesday P96,265 worth of food from the app at 4:47 p.m.; then at 4:56 p.m. with an order worth P323,247; then placed another worth P356,517 at 5:11 p.m.; and finally, worth P300,851 at 5:49 p.m. .

“The hacker managed to change my registered phone number so he got the OTPs (one-time passwords). He knew what he was doing. I just don’t know how he will eat a million worth of food,” Gatchalian said.

In an interview with Senate reporters later, the senator said this was the first time he experienced hacking and the first time that such amounts were charged from his credit card.

He said the bank had notified him thru messages that the phone number he was using for his card was being replaced until he was informed that he ordered over a million-worth food from Food Panda.

He admitted that was not able to immediately look at the notifications after leading a hearing of the Senate energy committee.

As soon as he read the notifications in his phone, Gatchalian said he called the bank to deny that he made the purchases.

It was then the bank confirmed the hacking and immediately cancelled the credit card.

Gatchalian said he will formally file a report before police so that concerned firms will be compelled to investigate the hacking incident.

He also said he plans to communicate with Food Panda to determine the identity of the individuals who ordered and received the purchases.

He also raised how the food delivery service provider had allowed such huge amounts of transactions without raising red flags.

He also called on banks to review and improve the security measures that they are implementing for their clients, as well as their notifications systems to prevent hacking.

He said his bank agreed not to charge him for the fraudulent transactions made using his credit card.

Gatchalian said the hacking of his credit card serves as a lesson for him and the public to be more careful about their purchases online, especially as most transactions already went cashless and contactless due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I want to pursue this, dahil, tingin ko, baka maraming iba pa, marami pang mabibiktima ito, at marami nang nabiktima,” he said.