Globe Telecom is urging Filipinos to be cautious online as law enforcers warn of a fresh rise in online and text fraud.
Anton Bonifacio, Globe chief Information security officer, said fraudsters are finding new ways to bait potential victims to circumvent the SIM Registration Act and frustrate industry efforts to block spam and scam SMS.
Because of Globe’s tighter regulations, Bonifacio said scammers shift to over-the-top (OTT) media services such as chat apps and spoofing, or the use of illegal devices to trick customer phones, all of which operate outside the scope of telcos.
“As much as we improve our filtering systems and enhance the implementation of the SIM Registration Act, fraudsters continue to find new ways to make victims out of mobile and internet users. We would like to reiterate our appeal to the public: please, please never engage with unsolicited calls, texts or chat messages and never give your personal details to strangers,” said Bonifacio.
According to the police, cyber identity theft in the Philippines increased by 12.2 percent in 2023, with 1,597 cases logged compared to 1,402 in 2022.
Globe data show scam and spam texts continue to rise, with 5.48 billion unwanted SMS blocked in 2023, double the figure in 2022 at 2.7 billion.
The telco has been stringent in fending off scam and spam messages, blocking all person-to-person SMS with URLs since September 2022, an industry first.
But there’s a silver lining to this development. Globe reported a marked decline in bank-related spam and scam SMS blocked in 2023 to 21.9 million – a 73.7 percent drop from 83.39 million in 2022 – owing to Globe’s anti-fraud partnerships with major banks and financial institutions.
Through its 24/7 StopSpam portal, Globe also blocked 220,669 SIMs in 2023 the bulk of which are competitor SIMs nearly four times the total in 2022.
Globe recently spent $90 million to boost cybersecurity, complementing the $20-million infrastructure it earlier invested in to fight spam and scam messages.
