Local telco Globe said it deactivated 20,225 SIMs and blacklisted 35,333 SIMs involved in scam and spam messages in 2022 alone as part of its campaign for Internet safety.
This was on top of the record 2.72 billion scam and spam messages it blocked last year, 83.4 million of which were bank-related.
Globe said these were implemented to protect customers from harmful content and fraud before the enactment of the SIM Registration Act.
“Globe recognizes the growing threat posed by scammers, who use various tactics, including text messages, to deceive innocent victims into giving up personal information that could be used to compromise their financial accounts. We will continue to invest in our cybersecurity program to protect our customers from these unscrupulous individuals,” said Anton Bonifacio, Globe chief information security officer.
Under its filtering protocol, Globe deactivates SIMs within its network once detected to have been involved in fraud. Meanwhile, SIMs outside of the Globe network are blacklisted to prevent them from sending to Globe.
On its own, Globe has taken a proactive approach to combat cybercrime schemes through various initiatives. It has implemented blocking mechanisms, established partnerships with financial institutions for threat intelligence, created a customer reporting portal, and launched an awareness and education campaign to empower customers with the knowledge and tools they need to protect themselves.
Meanwhile, in a move to address growing concern over the use of unregistered SIMs in committing cybercrimes, the government introduced Republic Act No. 11934, also known as the SIM (subscriber identity module) Registration Act.
Signed into law in October, the measure requires all mobile and broadband users to register their SIMs with their respective service providers to ensure that they are properly identified.
As of January 25, Globe has logged 10.4 million registrations of prepaid SIMs.
