Globe Telecom Inc. yesterday warned the public against unscrupulous groups and individuals taking advantage of the new law on the registration of subscriber identity modules (SIM) to scam people.
“We have received reports that there are groups and individuals taking advantage of the new law by sending misleading text messages to unsuspecting mobile phone users. We would like to remind our customers to ignore these messages and report them to our Stop Spam website,” said Anton Bonifacio, Globe chief information security officer.
Bonifacio said text messages informing users that their SIMs have been deactivated are just a ploy to get their personal information and hard-earned money.
The SIM Registration law has yet to take full effect as its implementing rules and regulations (IRR) are still being finalized.
All Globe and TM customers will be informed once the IRR is in place, the company said.
Republic Act 11934, or the SIM Registration Act, was signed into law on October 10. It aims to provide accountability for those using SIM cards and aid law enforcement in tracking perpetrators of crimes committed through mobile phones.
The move is expected to boost government initiatives against fraud perpetrated through text and online messages which have become more prevalent in recent years.
Under the law, users can only activate their new SIMs by registering with their provider.
Existing subscribers, meanwhile, must register within 180 days from the start of the law’s implementation or risk having their SIMs deactivated.
Latest data show that Globe blocked more than 32.2 million scam and spam text messages in just two weeks after implementing measures to block uniform resource locators (URLs) in person-to-person text messages. – Myla Iglesias
