The recent years have seen a rapid rise of scams disguised as SMS in the Philippines, often offering jobs at a “high rate,” which coincides with the country’s increasing shift to digital. While telcos have been active in the fight against this type of fraud, there is also a request to the public to be vigilant against the ongoing scheme.
Globe Telecom Inc. (Globe) Chief Information Security Officer Anton Bonifacio, in a statement on Wednesday, alludes to SMS fraud, in particular, as a type of virus for its constantly-evolving nature. One which necessitates the public to be “double-masked” as a measure of protection. That is, to apply due diligence in other telcos’ efforts to fend them off.
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Essentially referring to added layers of protection against illegal activity, the exec is recommending the public to enable anti-spam features in their mobile devices, such as the one in Google’s Messages app, and be ever watchful against scams.
Furthermore, he believes that if both the telco and customers work together, there is a chance that the entire scheme can be stopped.
Bonifacio is also reminding the public that they can play their part against SMS scams by being active in reporting incidences on Globe’s Stop Spam portal.