Intensified anti-spam initiatives costing millions in US dollar terms resulted to a significant drop in the volume of spam and scam text messages at Globe Telecom in the first three months this year.
Globe said the number of blocked spam and scam SMS dropped to only 362.8 million in the January-March quarter, 67 percent lower than the 1.1 billion posted in the year-earlier period. Bank-related spam and scam messages, which often attempt to lure victims into revealing sensitive financial information, also dropped 74 percent to only 1.04 million.
At the same time, the number of customer-reported scam SMS received via Globe’s Stop Spam portal declined 44 percent year-over-year to 342 – a positive sign that fewer customers were successfully targeted.
“We are pleased to see our intensified anti-spam initiatives finally turning the tide against unscrupulous individuals and syndicates who bombard our customers with fraudulent messaging,” said Anton Bonifacio, chief information security officer at Globe. “The adoption of stringent filtering, along with other measures, has clearly borne fruit in dramatically reducing the volume of spam and scam SMS.”
Globe stepped up its fight against spam by enacting rigorous filtering measures, including blocking peer-to-peer SMS containing links and restricting application-to-peer SMS with links. These actions have been essential in lowering the volume of unwanted communications and ensuring message authenticity.
Globe has invested over USD101.2 million in its cybersecurity efforts since 2015, including USD26 million to build up its defenses against fraud, messaging attacks, and voice call-related threats. This also covers the establishment and sustained upgrading of a state-of-the-art Security Operations Center which operates ‘round the clock to manage, monitor, and protect the network and systems from potential risks.
The SIM Registration Act has also served as a deterrent, curtailing the ability of fraudsters to use SIMs anonymously for unlawful activities.
