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Telcos work closely with gov’t to clamp down scam texts
Local telecommunications companies (telco) is clamping down the continued proliferation of scam text messages through their partnership with the national government. (Pexels photo)
MANILA – Local telecommunications companies (telco) is clamping down the continued proliferation of scam text messages through their partnership with the national government.
In a statement on Tuesday, Globe Telecom Inc. (Globe) chief information security officer Anton Bonifacio said the company is “working closely” with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and the National Privacy Commission (NPC) to crack down against cybercriminals and protect data privacy.
“At a time of aggressive cybercriminal activity amid growing digitalization, Globe asserts that the public, government, and industry players, including telcos, are all victims of these illegal acts. It is, thus, a shared fight among all of us to beat our common enemy, which is cybercrime,” Bonifacio said.
To date, he said roughly PHP1.1 billion in capital expenditures have been spent by Globe to boost its capabilities in detecting and blocking scam and spam messages of both international and local origin.
“Globe also maintains a 24/7 security operations center, with over 100 people working tirelessly to detect attacks, breaches, and spam and text messages,” he said.
From January to July, Globe blocked a total of 784 million scam and spam messages, deactivated 14,058 scam-linked SIM cards, and blacklisted 8,973 SIM cards—in addition to 610 blocked domains or URLs.
On the other hand, PLDT – Smart chief information security officer Angel Redoble assured its users that there is no evidence to suggest a breach in its network, with spam and scam messages received by their users mostly sent through individual SIM cards.
“Upon scrutiny of these spam messages, we have observed that the format of the names mimics the naming conventions used in popular digital services,” Redoble said.
Leah Jimenez, PLDT-Smart’s chief data privacy officer, said the companies continue to work with the NPC, the NTC, and law enforcement agencies to help track down cybercriminals responsible for these illegal activities.
“At this early stage, and pending completion of investigations, we believe it prudent to hold off on any conclusion. Our focus should be on identifying the source of these scam messages,” Jimenez said.
In 2021, PLDT-Smart has invested nearly PHP3 billion to fortify its cybersecurity infrastructure to safeguard against emerging threats and vulnerabilities in telecommunications and cyberspace.
Earlier, the NTC ordered telcos to send warnings to the public against scam text messages that contain the names of their receivers.
Text scams have been on the rise since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the latest fraudulent messages containing the names of their receivers and offering fake jobs, promises of a monetary prize, or similar money scams that lull users into giving sensitive information.
Such information can then be used by cybercriminals to log in to a person’s bank account, digital wallet, or social media account — resulting in both monetary and data privacy losses.
Genelyn Villafuerte
September 6, 2022 at 8:37 PM
Thank you, this issue is very alarming. Each of us need privacy regarding the data or our personal information not to be leak/scam.
Hannah Sheila
September 7, 2022 at 10:05 PM
I hope they would not just focused on scam texts but all activities related with cybercrimes. With our era who now go hand in hand and live with cyber activities I think it’s about time to pass a bill that would seriously penalize cyber criminals because they do take advantage of anonymity of text, online social networking sites etc. result to these people don’t have the fear of being caught. I myself has experience almost be scammed through text and if not by the news I saw before that made me diligent I may have been scammed already through text/SNS. May all the testimonies of other victims echoed to the appointed department that this is now a large scale modus operandi that requires a much more severe attention and punishments.
Sophia Abygail C. Tagalog
September 7, 2022 at 11:42 PM
Experiencing it firsthand, it is indeed a very alarming issue that needs an immediate resolution. Before, receiving random messages from unknown numbers I thought was just fine. But receiving such messages containing your full name with it, is no joke.
As we all know, this continuing spam text messages if sent to those who are unaware, can result to dangers such as undesired advertisement, exposure of private information, becoming a victim of a fraud or financial scheme, being lured into malware and phishing websites, involuntary exposition to inappropriate content and many more (Benedetto, 2021).
For a SMS user like me, it will be a great relief and appreciation if the aforementioned agencies/companies together with the government will finally resolve this issue in no time. Cybercriminals behind this threat who are doing such dreadful acts may successfully crackdown by our Law Enforcement agencies.
Veria Balatbat
September 8, 2022 at 10:12 AM
Sana ay bigyang-pansin nila ang lahat ng aspeto ng cybercrime, hindi lang mga scam text. Ang isang panukalang batas na magpaparusa sa mga cyber criminal para sa pagsasamantala sa hindi pagkakakilanlan ng teksto, mga online na social networking site, atbp. ay dapat na maipasa, sa aking palagay, habang ang mga tao sa ating panahon at panahon ngayon ay sumasabay sa mga aktibidad sa cyber. Dahil dito, hindi na kailangang mag-alala ang mga kriminal na ito na mahuli sila. Malapit na akong maging biktima ng text scam, at kung hindi dahil sa ilang kamakailang balita na naging mas mapagbantay, baka nabiktima na ako ng isa. Nawa’y ang mga testimonial ng lahat ng iba pang mga biktima ay umalingawngaw sa itinalagang departamento, na nagbibigay-diin na ito ngayon ay isang malawakang pattern na nangangailangan ng mas mahigpit na atensyon at parusa.
RJ Guam
September 8, 2022 at 10:13 AM
Sa pagkakaroon ng personal na karanasan dito, maaari kong patunayan na ito ay isang lubhang nakababahalang problema na nangangailangan ng agarang pagtugon. Nakatanggap ako dati ng mga random na mensahe mula sa mga hindi kilalang tumatawag, na pinaniniwalaan kong katanggap-tanggap. Ang pagtanggap ng mga ganoong text, na kasama rin ang iyong buong pangalan, ay seryosong negosyo. Para sa isang gumagamit ng SMS na tulad ko, ito ay isang malaking kaluwagan at salamat kung ang mga nabanggit na organisasyon at negosyo ay maaaring makipagtulungan sa gobyerno upang mabilis na makahanap ng solusyon sa problemang ito. Maaaring mapigilan ng ating mga ahensyang nagpapatupad ng batas ang mga cybercriminal na responsable sa banta na ito sa pagsasagawa ng mga karumal-dumal na gawain.
Gia Lou
September 8, 2022 at 10:25 AM
Sana hindi lang sa mga scam text ang tutukan nila kundi lahat ng aktibidad na may kinalaman sa cybercrime.