Insurance for GCash transfers now ready for all users

MANILA, Philippines  —All GCash users can now avail themselves of an insurance policy that protects their fund transfers and payments against potential scams that have become rampant amid the accelerated shift to digital platforms.

Dubbed “Send Money Protect (SMP),” the P30 financial product provides a 30-day coverage for P15,000 worth of transactions.

SMP was first unveiled in October 2023, when its beta version was made available.

“While due diligence is needed in making sure that online transactions are legitimate, we hope our new solution boosts our users’ confidence to send money worry-free,” said Winsley Bangit, GCash vice president and group head for new businesses.

The insurance policy—offered in partnership with global insurer Chubb—provides users protection against social engineering or scams whereby a consumer was tricked into sending money via GCash Express Pay to a perpetrator of said fraudulent activity.

Online shopping fraud

Cybercriminals pretend to be someone who they are not, like a family member or a friend, to convince unsuspecting individuals into sending money via the app.

READ: Online shopping fraud worries 93% of Filipinos

SMP also covers online shopping fraud, which includes payments to supposedly merchants but turns out to be a scammer as well.

However, the policy does not reimburse for wrong transactions such as using the wrong GCash number when sending money.

Jay Young, head of GCash insurance arm GInsure, said during the launching ceremony on Monday that processing of claims would take about five to seven business days, depending on the documentary requirements. These include evidence of fraud like screenshots of conversations between the victim and the scammer.

Young explained that consumers could still file insurance claims even if they realized their predicament belatedly, as long as the fraud happened during the time when the policy was active.

GCash chief risk officer Ingrid Beroña said the e-wallet service provider could “kick out” the bad actors from its platform, but they also work with law enforcement agencies to make sure they will not become repeat offenders.

READ: GCash deactivates 4 million suspicious accounts

This month, GCash inked an information-sharing pact with the National Bureau of Investigation to strengthen initiatives against cybercriminals, formalizing their already ongoing cooperation.

GCash, on its part, observe potential suspicious activities on its platform, which will then be reported to NBI for further probe.

Last year, GCash introduced the “DoubleSafe” security feature to prevent account takeovers, which allow hackers to drain a user’s e-wallet account. INQ