The Department of Justice has received reports from over 100 persons who discovered having dummy accounts on Facebook.
Justice Undersecretary Markk Perete disclosed yesterday that as of 10:45 p.m. last Sunday, the DoJ Office on Cybercrime has received “112 reports from users with duplicate or dummy accounts.”
“This initial batch of accounts has been brought to the attention of Facebook to be taken down, with a concomitant request for their preservation,” the DoJ spokesman said.
Perete said the DoJ-OOC is working with the Philippine National Police and the National Bureau of Investigation which are conducting investigations on the proliferation of the dummy accounts.
He said this includes helping law enforcement authorities preserve the data of the dummy accounts.
“As you know, law enforcement agencies are empowered to issue preservation orders to ensure that data, whether traffic or content, will be preserved pending investigation. The preservation of these data, as well as the determination of the subscriber information of those responsible, is essential for us to determine why these so-called ghost accounts exist in the first place,” he said.
Despite the ongoing investigation, the DoJ spokesman assured the continued protection of the personal information of persons whose accounts were duplicated.
“The law on data privacy prohibits disclosure of information without consent or beyond the purpose for which data was obtained or provided. Liability, including criminal penalties, is imposed upon those who violate this prohibition.
The DoJ Office of Cybercrime is not only aware of this prohibition; it will assiduously uphold the law that protects the privacy of citizens,” he stated.
The DoJ spokesman said those found involved in creating the dummy accounts face identity theft charges under Section 4(b)(3) of Republic Act 10175, the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, among others.
“Suffice it to state that at this point, all possible angles and leads will be pursued,” said Perete, who noted that this includes the possible involvement of terrorist groups and even Facebook. (Jeffrey Damicog)
