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MANILA, Philippines 鈥� Telco giants PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom committed to widen cooperation with the government and other private sector partners to combat the rise in text message scams targeting unwitting mobile users.
Following a meeting with the National Privacy Commission (NPC) on Wednesday, PLDT鈥檚 Smart Communications said the company was prepared to play an 鈥渁ctive role鈥� and take 鈥渟wift action鈥� in protecting subscribers.
鈥淲e realize the urgency of the need to protect the public from these scammers,鈥� Roy Ibay, regulatory head at Smart, said in a statement. 鈥淗aving said that, we also believe that we need to balance,鈥� he said, adding that the company would 鈥渘ot want to inadvertently harm legitimate users of our services in pursuit of a handful of unscrupulous individuals.鈥�
During the meeting, which was attended by representatives of regulators, banks and e-commerce platforms such as Lazada and Shopee, Globe chief information security officer Anton Bonifacio also called for greater 鈥渢hreat intelligence sharing鈥� among private sector stakeholders.
鈥淎t the end of the day, we need to move very swiftly in preventing fraudulent attacks from reaching our customers, and we know we cannot do it alone,鈥� Bonifacio said. 鈥淲e need to improve private sector partnerships on top of what has already been a robust public sector enablement through the (NPC). Strength in numbers is key.鈥�
Joint effort
Sen. Grace Poe on Wednesday also called on the government to work with the private sector in containing the large-scale, text-based phishing scams preying on the mobile phone-dependent public.
The chair of the Senate public services committee said the sudden influx of text scams had opened 鈥渢he fraud floodgates鈥� amid the pandemic.
She said the government should continuously beef up mechanisms, such as existing hotlines, through which the people could report spam texts and other such scams and get immediate help.
Last Nov. 19, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) directed all telecommunications providers to issue a text blast to subscribers warning them against divulging personal information to anonymous senders.
The text blast will read: 鈥淏ABALA! Huwag maniwala sa text na diumano媒 nag-aalok ng trabaho. Huwag po magbigay ng personal na impormasyon. Ito po ay isang scam.鈥� (鈥淒on鈥檛 believe text messages offering jobs. Don鈥檛 give your personal information. This is a scam.鈥�)
NTC Deputy Commissioner Edgardo Cabarios said in an interview on Wednesday such warnings were effective in curbing cases of text fraud that have cropped up in the past.
鈥榃eaponized鈥� for polls
鈥淭ext scams spare no one. Their victims come from poor families who are given false hopes of jobs or goods, or worse, duped into giving away cash in exchange for the false promise of a bigger amount,鈥� Poe said.
At the House, Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas filed Resolution No. 2378 urging the Department of Information and Communications Technology, NTC and NPC to conduct a thorough investigation.
鈥淎s we enter the campaign period, urgent steps should be taken to ensure that these schemes are not weaponized into tools to spread fake news and disinformation. Our right to suffrage and the integrity of our elections may become casualties if the concerned agencies fail to act.鈥�