Monkey photo on ID activates Philippine SIM cards, exposing loophole in new law vs scammers (www.straitstimes.com)
from fne8w2ah@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world on 09 Sep 2023 10:20
https://lemmy.world/post/4727791

#technology

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tony@lemmy.hoyle.me.uk on 09 Sep 2023 10:45 next collapse

I bet they’re just scanning the barcode… image recognition is way more expensive.

brsrklf@jlai.lu on 09 Sep 2023 11:30 next collapse

My guess is it’s not really trying to identify the person on the pic, just looking for anything looking like a human face, like any phone camera software would.

With the same pareidolia/non-human faces problems you’d get on those.

WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world on 09 Sep 2023 14:40 collapse

My guess is it’s the Philippines. The corporations and gov especially has absolutely no idea how to computer. They add inefficient manual processes to modern tech that is completely automated in all instances.

It’d be hilarious if it weren’t so infuriating. Filipinos deserve better, but it’s a viscous cycle of supporting the most obvious sociopath, that leads to the next sociopath; ad infinitum.

dublet@lemmy.world on 09 Sep 2023 15:17 next collapse

In very mild defence of their government, it’s not like many other countries do IT better at the national level.

takingbacksunday@lemmy.world on 09 Sep 2023 22:37 collapse

I’m from this hellhole country. This gov’t screws over the people over every chance it gets. It deserves no defending.

theterrasque@infosec.pub on 09 Sep 2023 22:30 collapse

Well, this is one place where they should have a manual process

[deleted] on 09 Sep 2023 13:11 collapse

.

agent_flounder@lemmy.one on 09 Sep 2023 13:33 next collapse

Having read the title, I think I might be having a stroke… Or really need the iced latte this morning…

agent_flounder@lemmy.one on 09 Sep 2023 15:08 next collapse

Nope … still makes no sense

Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works on 09 Sep 2023 15:54 collapse

I think monkeys are scamming people by stealing sim cards and activating them with fake IDs. It seems the monkeys are able to get away with this because the IDs appear genuine thanks to the photo. This also falls within a legal loophole as monkeys are generally not subject to law and often fail to appear for their court date anyway so law enforcement isn’t able to effectively combat the issue.

Crackhappy@lemmy.world on 09 Sep 2023 21:15 next collapse

Notkenm

Edgelord_Of_Tomorrow@lemmy.world on 10 Sep 2023 04:18 collapse

After the crackdown on monkeys stealing from tourists and getting smashed on drinks left on the beach, they’ve had to improvise to survive.

xia@lemmy.ca on 10 Sep 2023 00:11 next collapse

Have you seen doctor who, where an image of a weeping angel can become a weeping angel?

brianorca@lemmy.world on 10 Sep 2023 04:45 collapse

They added face recognition to the SIM registration process, in an attempt to reduce fraud. (Maybe by limiting or not allowing duplicate faces.) But a monkey face works too, and they are plentiful on the islands, supplying many unique faces.

agent_flounder@lemmy.one on 10 Sep 2023 21:18 next collapse

Thank you! Finally makes sense.

philodendron@lemdro.id on 11 Sep 2023 05:37 collapse

I hope we get to see two people use the same monkey

pewgar_seemsimandroid@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 09 Sep 2023 19:50 next collapse

funi

shotgun_crab@lemmy.world on 09 Sep 2023 20:09 next collapse

I thought this was the onion for a second…

deafboy@lemmy.world on 10 Sep 2023 08:47 collapse

Solution to phone scams has nothing to do with sim card issuance. Any restrictions in that regard will only harm legitimate users.

We have to demand companies to strictly verify the incoming caller numbers, like we do with modern day emails. That way, filtering on the receiving side becomes possible.

kalleboo@lemmy.world on 10 Sep 2023 14:41 next collapse

Is number spoofing really a problem outside of North America (+1 country code)? Over the past decade or so I’ve had phone numbers in 5 different countries across several continents and never had any issues with number spoofing or really any spam from phone numbers at all (since a year ago, I get at most 1 spam SMS a month here in Japan, not one call ever), but I keep hearing only Americans talking about it as a problem.

KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 10 Sep 2023 18:41 next collapse

It really depends on how liberal you are with your phone number. Do you give it to everyone and anyone? Because once it’s on a spam call list, it stays there for a long while. Even after it’s “tested bad” it gets circulated through to other spammers.

Eventually it will fall off, but it takes years in some cases. And you need to be pretty vigilant with your screening to get there.

kalleboo@lemmy.world on 11 Sep 2023 10:38 collapse

I always assumed they just called every single number randomly. Since you don’t pay for failed calls, the cost is zero.

KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 11 Sep 2023 20:30 collapse

Some likely do, but there are other types of responses they will get that do cost. Such as answering services, fax machines, and even dialup endpoints. It’ll always be more cost effective to use a shared list of “good” numbers.

kalleboo@lemmy.world on 13 Sep 2023 12:52 collapse

Good point!

aidan@lemmy.world on 11 Sep 2023 10:50 next collapse

I think it’s more widespread in the US but have definitely gotten it in central Europe

deafboy@lemmy.world on 12 Sep 2023 06:57 collapse

I got less than 2 outright scam calls in EU for as long as I have a phone. But if I use a foreign service that allows me to set an arbitrary caller ID, it will get through to my phone no problem.

I have no idea where the filtering happens, but if it fails one day, we’re in for a lot of hurt. Oftentimes even the legitimate companies, like banks, will call you, and demand personal information from you “for verification purposes”. Then, tries to sell you a loan, or an insurance. They always act surprised I’m not keen on sharing my personal info with a stranger.

funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works on 10 Sep 2023 16:05 collapse

I often wonder if spam protection would be better if more clearly displayed.

I know DKIM, SPF, DMARC aren’t “friendly names” but we could call them “Sender Valid”, “Email Valid”, “Handshake Accepted” or something and then maybe a “no outside links” and “no suspicious content” — 5 pip marks or green ticks to feel better about it?

Then you could also force-display the domain and page title following links, and warn against mismatching reply-to: addresses. Maybe even show some known technographics from the headers (“Sent via Marketo?”)

All that to say, systems like that would help against spam callers and scammers.