The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has vowed to hunt down individuals who registered their SIM cards using names and photos of fictional characters and animals.
“Technically speaking po, may violation ‘yun.. ‘Pag nalaman namin kung sino ‘yung nag-register at ni-report din sa amin, we can use the SIM card registration law to go after that person,” DICT Undersecretary Jeffrey Dy said in a CNN Philippines interview.
Dy made the remark days after an IT expert showed that the SIM registration modules of telco firms accepted enlisting a mobile number under the name and fake ID of Bart Simpson, the yellow-skinned character from The Simpsons, and even under the name Monkey D. Luffy from the anime One Piece.
Other reports claimed that they were able to register a SIM card using a monkey’s headshot.
The SIM Registration Act imposes a P100,000 to P300,000 fine for using a false identity and lying in the registration process. Violators could also face jail time ranging from six months up to two years.
