MANILA — Digital wallet GCash has blocked more than 3,200 merchants found to be involved in illicit activities, including illegal online gambling, as part of efforts to protect consumers.

In a statement, GCash said it has been coordinating with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) since last year to restrict these merchants’ access to the platform, preventing them from misusing the QRPh payment system.

Many of the blocked merchants reportedly used deceptive tactics such as QR masking, where legitimate-looking QR codes redirect payments to unauthorized accounts, and fake payment pages that imitate legitimate businesses or the official GCash interface to collect payments illegally.

“Entities attempting to misuse the GCash payment app and QRPh without authorization or are masking QRPh leading to unauthorized transactions are flagged, suspended, and reported to the relevant authorities,” the company said.

Miguel Geronilla, GCash’s chief information and security officer, said the company’s proactive monitoring identifies unauthorized activity before users are scammed. Suspicious transactions are reported to both the CICC and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

“By proactively blocking unauthorized actors and reporting them to our regulators and authorities, we are helping protect Filipinos and maintain trust in the country’s digital financial ecosystem,” Geronilla said.

GCash reminded users not to share their mobile personal identification number (MPIN) or one-time passwords (OTP), verify merchant names and transaction details, avoid transfers to personal wallets, and refrain from scanning QR codes from unknown messages, emails, or social media posts.