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Villar hits NTC, telcos over spam text messages
Senator Cynthia Villar on Wednesday hit the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and telecommunications companies for their inaction on spam text messages sent to subscribers.
In her opening statement at the hearing of the Senate public services committee, Villar said that their foundation, Villar Foundation, is being used by unscrupulous individuals in the scam.
“Dalawang taon na halos ginagamit ang Villar Foundation sa mga text messages na nagsasabing nanalo daw sila tapos nanghihingi ng pera sa biktima nila. Nakakasira 'yun ng kumpanya namin. Tawag kami nang tawag sa inyo pero hindi ninyo kami pinapansin,” she said.
"Wala kayong pakialam sa amin, wala kayong pakialam sa publiko dahil kung may pakialam kayo dapat naitigil nyo na yan,” Villar added.
She expressed exasperation over the lack of effort of the NTC and telecommunications companies to address the issue. She chided the NTC for resorting to just blocking the SIM card of the sender of spam test messages.
“You are making a lot of money out of us, might as well protect us. Talagang galit na galit na kami dyan. Sabihin mo yun sa presidente mo. Talagang magpa-pass kami ng legislation to make it hard for you kasi hindi n'yo kami tinulungan,” the senator further said.
She said that one example of a scam is a text message supposedly sent by a loved one abroad.
“The modus operandi is they will communicate via text message with the recipient and then later ask for load to continue the conversation. Marami na ang naloko ng ganyang modus operandi,” she said.
She added that there were text messages that deceives recipient into believing that these were sent by telecommunications companies.
“One example: the texter will tell recipient that he or she has been accidentally charged a certain amount by the telco and in order to reverse it, certain instructions must be followed. But in reality, it is just a scheme for the victim to transfer ‘load’ to the scammer,” she said.
Villar said the other example deceives the recipient into thinking that he or she has been selected in a special discount offer by the telecommunications company. She said the same scheme applies where the victim will have to follow instructions to avail of it and those instructions will only lead to transferring load to the scammer.
The most common, she said, are the electronic raffle text scams that deceive the recipient into thinking that he or she has won an e-raffle from a certain government agency, company, or foundation.
“The recipient will have to call a certain representative to know what he or she has to do to claim the prize. Usually, when the victim calls the so-called representative, the victim will be instructed to transfer certain amounts of money before he or she can claim the prize,” she said.
The senator said their foundation have issued warnings on social media as well as print media about that text scam and even sought the help of the National Bureau of Investigation but the scammers just continue with their scheme.
“My constituents and other concerned citizens have e-mailed, called, and contacted us to report these scam messages. We have kept a record of the texts they received. Patuloy pa rin ito at marami na rin nabiktima at nagbigay ng pera sa mga pasimuno ng text scam. Hindi naman naming pwede i-reimburse ang lahat ng mga nabiktima. Pero patuloy naman ang aming pag-warn sa kanila. We inform people that we do not have such raffles and we do not give away cash, we only provide assistance in kind,” she said.
Wo Rosete, senior manager of the External Relations, Public Affairs Group of Smart Communications, said they have been actively working to counter the efforts of the text scammers to hoodwink wireless subscribers.
He said they have blocked specific cellular phone numbers identified by the NTC as being used for text scams and have warned the public regarding various text scams through SMS advisories to our subscribers; information campaigns in cooperation with the DTI and the NTC; published print ads/public advisories in leading print publications; produced educational posters that we distributed all over the country; and aired infomercials over the radio.
“We will continue and step up our efforts to keep the public informed of the changing tactics used by text scammers, and we will continue to work closely with the government,” he said in a press statement.
Meanwhile, Yoly Crisanto, Globe senior vice president for corporate ommunications, said that they continue to intensify their campaign to crack down on entities/individuals involved in perpetrating various text scams that victimize Globe customers.
She said the company’s filtering mechanism that keeps its customers from receiving text scams remains in place as part of efforts to rid its network of scam text messages.
“This filtering mechanism, which prevents the transmittal of scam messages to mobile devices, now covers majority of the company’s 2.3 million postpaid customers,” she said in a press statement.
She said the mobile operator operationalized the automated filtering mechanism in August last year as part of the telecommunication provider’s efforts to rid its network of both spam and scam messages.
She said the volume of messages blocked by the network filtering system averages about 90,000/day, reaching a peak of around 200,000 in July this year.
“Globe also embarked on an awareness drive to educate its customers to keep them from falling victims to such unscrupulous activities through its #stopspam campaign,” she said.
Crisanto said Globe made it easier for its customers to immediately report text scams or text spams that they get on their mobile devices thru http://www.globe.com.ph/stopspam.
“Customers just need to provide all the details required and numbers that are reported as source of text scams will be immediately blocked from the network,” she said. —ALG/NB, GMA News
She said that one example of a scam is a text message supposedly sent by a loved one abroad.
“The modus operandi is they will communicate via text message with the recipient and then later ask for load to continue the conversation. Marami na ang naloko ng ganyang modus operandi,” she said.
She added that there were text messages that deceives recipient into believing that these were sent by telecommunications companies.
“One example: the texter will tell recipient that he or she has been accidentally charged a certain amount by the telco and in order to reverse it, certain instructions must be followed. But in reality, it is just a scheme for the victim to transfer ‘load’ to the scammer,” she said.
Villar said the other example deceives the recipient into thinking that he or she has been selected in a special discount offer by the telecommunications company. She said the same scheme applies where the victim will have to follow instructions to avail of it and those instructions will only lead to transferring load to the scammer.
The most common, she said, are the electronic raffle text scams that deceive the recipient into thinking that he or she has won an e-raffle from a certain government agency, company, or foundation.
“The recipient will have to call a certain representative to know what he or she has to do to claim the prize. Usually, when the victim calls the so-called representative, the victim will be instructed to transfer certain amounts of money before he or she can claim the prize,” she said.
The senator said their foundation have issued warnings on social media as well as print media about that text scam and even sought the help of the National Bureau of Investigation but the scammers just continue with their scheme.
“My constituents and other concerned citizens have e-mailed, called, and contacted us to report these scam messages. We have kept a record of the texts they received. Patuloy pa rin ito at marami na rin nabiktima at nagbigay ng pera sa mga pasimuno ng text scam. Hindi naman naming pwede i-reimburse ang lahat ng mga nabiktima. Pero patuloy naman ang aming pag-warn sa kanila. We inform people that we do not have such raffles and we do not give away cash, we only provide assistance in kind,” she said.
Wo Rosete, senior manager of the External Relations, Public Affairs Group of Smart Communications, said they have been actively working to counter the efforts of the text scammers to hoodwink wireless subscribers.
He said they have blocked specific cellular phone numbers identified by the NTC as being used for text scams and have warned the public regarding various text scams through SMS advisories to our subscribers; information campaigns in cooperation with the DTI and the NTC; published print ads/public advisories in leading print publications; produced educational posters that we distributed all over the country; and aired infomercials over the radio.
“We will continue and step up our efforts to keep the public informed of the changing tactics used by text scammers, and we will continue to work closely with the government,” he said in a press statement.
Meanwhile, Yoly Crisanto, Globe senior vice president for corporate ommunications, said that they continue to intensify their campaign to crack down on entities/individuals involved in perpetrating various text scams that victimize Globe customers.
She said the company’s filtering mechanism that keeps its customers from receiving text scams remains in place as part of efforts to rid its network of scam text messages.
“This filtering mechanism, which prevents the transmittal of scam messages to mobile devices, now covers majority of the company’s 2.3 million postpaid customers,” she said in a press statement.
She said the mobile operator operationalized the automated filtering mechanism in August last year as part of the telecommunication provider’s efforts to rid its network of both spam and scam messages.
She said the volume of messages blocked by the network filtering system averages about 90,000/day, reaching a peak of around 200,000 in July this year.
“Globe also embarked on an awareness drive to educate its customers to keep them from falling victims to such unscrupulous activities through its #stopspam campaign,” she said.
Crisanto said Globe made it easier for its customers to immediately report text scams or text spams that they get on their mobile devices thru http://www.globe.com.ph/stopspam.
“Customers just need to provide all the details required and numbers that are reported as source of text scams will be immediately blocked from the network,” she said. —ALG/NB, GMA News
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