The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) has required Smart Communications Inc. to report on the status of its compliance to Republic Act 11934 or the SIM Card Registration Law following the proliferation of unregistered SIMs used in text scams and various other forms of cybercrime.
CICC executive director Alexander K. Ramos on Tuesday made the urgent call as the activities of unregistered SIMs proceed unhindered.
The CICC is closely working with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to find solutions to the continued proliferation of text scams despite the implementation of the SIM Card Law .
Ramos said the unregistered SIM cards are used in online bank transaction messages.
“We have been receiving a litany of complaints from the public that they continue to receive unwanted text messages either offering them loans, online gambling, cryptocurrency investments and job offers from unknown persons identified with Smart issued numbers.” he said.
“It’s time for the government to get tough on these telcos,” Ramos added.
In a separate statement, Smart said it has intensified the fight against scammers and has clamped down on those that use fraudulently registered SIMs to commit crimes.
Between January and May this year, Smart has blacklisted 615,788 mobile numbers tied to illicit and fraudulent activities, including spamming and SMShing scams. This number includes all fraudulently registered SIMs purged through Smart’s strict validation process.
Smart also continues to strengthen its SIM registration controls. Since December last year, in line with the National Telecommunications Commission’s directive, Smart implemented enhanced verification mechanisms, including the adoption of “live selfie” and liveness checks, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), facial recognition and matching, disabling of the upload of stock selfies, and verification of registrations prior to activation.
“We actively collaborate with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center and the NTC, our peers in the telecom industry, and other allies from the private and public sectors, to have a comprehensive response to the menace of SMShing and phishing scammers,” Jojo G. Gendrano, PLDT and Smart chief information security officer, said.
“We remain deeply committed to providing a safe and secure communications platform and digital services for Filipinos,” he said.
