Not long after an initial summon of a few data privacy officers, the National Privacy Commission has officially begun a probe on Philippine telcos, banks, and payment processors to continue its hunt for scammers behind SMS-based phishing.

The country’s data protection watchdog has issued orders to several companies to submit documents pertaining to how they collect data and how said data flows through their processes or systems. Among the companies being investigated are the three major telcos—Globe, Smart, and DITO.

Also required to comply is the Union Bank of the Philippines and GCash, as their financial services have been found to be the most commonly used by scammers to lead victims into sending payments and supposed investments.

The investigation will determine if these companies should be held accountable for the malicious transactions that occurred in their systems.

Besides the NPC, an inter-agency task force has been recently formed by the government to combat smishing.

Source: PhilStar

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