PARADOXICAL

Misadventures with GCash

Since I am not much into apps, I can't remember when and why exactly I set up my GCash account. What I have a vague memory of is that old friends and relatives were asking me if I had a GCash account where they could donate an amount of money to help me in my family's moment of dire need, and that was when my father died in the middle of the covid-19 pandemic and members of our household soon contracted covid one by one.

Even if I didn't know how to have an account, I just had to have one, so of course I asked for help.

GCash was a Godsend, a lifeline. I, with my disabilities, particularly appreciated the fact that I no longer have to go out, commute, line up in a long queue, watch paint dry, lose patience, etc. just to pay my monthly bills.

Why didn't they think up of this e-wallet sooner? And why did I even hem and haw in having it?

I was particularly thankful when news reports broke about the covid virus being possibly transmitted through paper bills.

Soon, I reveled at the fact that I could pay my electricity, water, and Internet bills at my fingertips, with just a few taps. Unbelievable, but it's true.

I also used it as an online bank of sorts. People who transacted with me could pay me easily through it too, and vice-versa. Gone were the days of physically going to the bank and wasting away precious hours inside staring at the tellers and examining the clothes and shoes of fellow clients while waiting for one's turn to deposit, withdraw, or settle something.

But just as it was so convenient to send and receive cash of all amounts and meet my obligations, it was also so easy to get scammed.

One day, a colleague of mine texted on FB Messenger, "Sir do you have PX,000 that I can borrow?"

Since the person had been a good payer, I said I didn't have that kind of amount to spare, just PX,000 right now."

"Oh, that would be enough," he answered.

Right after I had tapped my forefinger on the Send button, here came the news that the person's FB account had been hacked.

Super-gullible me learned a big lesson that day. Good thing the person made an effort to return half of what I lost. It wasn't that much to others maybe, but not to me. Goodbye hard-earned money from honest labor.

Despite that, I didn't blame GCash. I kept on using it, to pay and to get paid.

...Until one day came the news of celebrities losing money received through GCash. I panicked a bit about the sizeable amount I had stored in my account for various purposes. Good grief. To be fair, I saw it intact when I double-checked, but it didn't allay my fears that I could be next. So I had everything encashed first thing the next morning.

Could you blame me if I have trust issues with the app?

The last straw is when I paid a bill through it, or so I remember, only to be told at the physical office of the provider that the transaction didn't get through. Was I appalled!

I frantically tried to search my phone for stored electronic receipts, to no avail. I routinely save my GCash receipts on my phone, but one time, I got fed up with so many receipts stored that I decided to either delete them or email those receipts to myself. Alas, I could no longer find the evidence of payment out of the avalanche of saved files, so eventually, I gave up: I had to have the unpaid bill settled in person, face to face, or suffer the consequences.

I temporarily stopped paying bills through GCash because of this bad experience. But since I continue to send and receive money through it for other reasons, I remain an active user to this day.

I am wary of GCash for another reason: paranoia. I don't know if I should say this, but the reason is Biblical -- something to do with that scary passage in the Book of Revelation predicting the advent of a dystopian cashless society. Has that day come to pass? Are we seeing people with bar codes and QR codes on their foreheads soon?

posted by Resty Odon  # 5:08 AM