Globe Telecom Inc. on Monday warned its customers of a new vishing scam or voice phishing scam targeting individuals posing as officials from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC).
In this new scheme, scammers call potential victims claiming that their phone number has been linked to illegal activities. The fraudsters would then extort money from their targets, threatening to arrest them if they do not cooperate.
“Criminals prey on our natural respect for authority, using it as a weapon to deceive and manipulate,” Anton Bonifacio, Globe’s chief information security officer said.
“This is what we see in this new scam modus, where fraudsters pretend to be NTC officials. We call on our customers to be very vigilant and do not fall victim to these scammers,” he added.
Globe said it is committed to protecting its customers from scams.
The company is working with the NTC and other law enforcement agencies to crack down on scammers and bring them to justice.
Globe also proactively blocks numbers linked to various forms of scams, including vishing.
From January to June 2024, Globe blocked 2.74 million bank-related spam and scam messages, marking a 43.56 percent year-on-year decline compared to the 4,855,199 messages blocked in the same period of 2023.
Globe has allocated about $20 million to enhance its spam and scam SMS detection and blocking systems to prevent fraudulent messages from reaching consumers.
