NTC orders telcos anew to warn public vs 'personalized' text scams

The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has once again directed telecommunications companies to warn the public against the proliferation of personalized text scams or unsolicited text messages containing the names of intended recipients.

In a memorandum dated September 8, 2022, the NTC ordered mobile network service providers DITO Telecommunity, Globe Telecom, and Smart Communications to blast to their subscribers daily from September 9 to September 15, 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 telecommunication regulator issued a similar order on the “new variant” of text scams including the name of recipients late August. 

Similar directives on the proliferation of spam text messages were also issued in May, June, and July.

In issuing the latest order, the NTC said “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 the telecommunications networks in the country.”

The telecommunication firms were given until September 19 to submit written reports of their compliance to the NTC. They were also directed to accelerate the process of blocking SIM cards that are being utilized to perpetrate the fraudulent activities and further enhance the messaging reach of their respective public information campaigns regarding the “new variants” of the text scams.

The National Privacy Commission said results of its initial investigation showed that data aggregators are unlikely to be the source of the personalized text scams or unsolicited text messages containing the names of intended recipients and that these spam messages are sent using mobile numbers through a phone-to-phone (P2P) transmission.

At a hearing in the Senate on Thursday, NPC deputy commissioner Leandro Aguirre said that information being used by text scammers may have been sourced from scrapped or harvested data from online payments and messaging applications. 

In a separate memorandum, the NTC also directed its regional directors and officers-in-charge to appear before local radio and television stations within their respective jurisdictions at least 10 days to warn the public against the continuing text scams from September 9 to September 15 and to expand their respective local public information campaigns to educate the public of the text scams.

The regional directors and officers-in-charge also have until September 19 to submit their compliance reports. —KBK, GMA News