The National Telecommunications Commissions has extended its directive to the country’s biggest telecommunications firms to warn their subscribers not to fall for fraudulent, “personalized” messages, which have continued unabated.
In a memo sent by the NTC to DITO Telecommunity Corp., Globe Telecoms Inc. and Smart Communications, the telcos were requested, in the interest of public service, to text blast their subscribers from Sept. 9, 2022 to Sept. 16, 2022 the following message: “BABALA. HUWAG PONG MANIWALA SA TEXT NA NAGLALAMAN NG INYONG PANGALAN NA NAG-AALOK NG TRABAHO, PABUYA O PERA. ITO PO AY ISANG SCAM.”
“The proliferation of ‘personalized’ fake job, lucky winner, bonus cash and other similar money scams targeting the general public has continued in the month of September across telecommunications networks in the country,” the NTC memo read.
Another solution proposed by the NTC and directed at the telcos was “to accelerate the process of blocking SIM cards that are being utilized to perpetrate these fraudulent activities and further enhance the messaging of your respective public information campaigns to factor in the new variants of these scams.”
In a separate directive, this time for the commission’s own Regional Directors and Officers-in-Charge, the officials were ordered once more “to appear before local radio and television stations within your respective jurisdictions to warn the public against the continuing text scams from Sept. 9, 2022 to Sept. 15, 2022 and to continue your respective local public information campaigns to educate the public of these scams.”
DITO, Smart, Globe and the regional NTC officers were likewise required to submit a written report of compliance to the Office of the Commissioner on or before September 19, 2022.
Vigilance by the public on such text scams is necessary, according to the NTC, which added that such modus can be minimized and even avoided if phone users will refuse providing personal information to strangers, decline survey questions from unknown senders and ignore dubious websites.