GLOBE TELECOM, Inc. on Wednesday said it had blacklisted and deactivated 58,234 subscriber identity modules (SIM) in the first half to counter fraud and malicious texts.
This was more than three times higher than the 17,851 SIMs it deactivated a year earlier, the company said in a statement. It added that 53,533 SIMs were blacklisted, while 4,701 SIMs were deactivated.
“As we stride forward into the digital age, our foremost commitment at Globe remains to ensure the safety and security of our valued customers,” Anton Bonifacio, chief information security officer at Globe, said in the statement.
The network operator said stringent measures in deactivating and blacklisting SIMs are supported by its reporting mechanism for customers.
Through its StopSpam portal, Globe users can upload screenshots of unwarranted text messages and fill in necessary details such as the sender’s number or caller ID, the recipient’s number and any suspicious links received.
“These actions are crucial steps towards building a safer, more trustworthy network and preserving the integrity of our communication channels,” Mr. Bonifacio said.
In the first half, the company also intercepted 2.19 billion scam and spam messages, a more than triple increase from 615.01 million messages it blocked last year.
Globe has invested $20 million in its Security Operations Center, which allows 24/7 screening of undesired messages from international and domestic sources.
“These efforts underscore Globe’s commitment to supporting the government’s fight against scammers and fraudsters, in line with the SIM Registration Act,” the company said.
The law requires all end-users to register their SIMs and present valid identification to telecommunication operators to keep their services active.
By the end of the registration period, the National Telecommunications Commission recorded 113.97 million SIMs that were registered, or 68% of the total.
Globe had the highest SIM registration at 53.73 million, or 62% of its 86.75 million subscribers. — Justine Irish D. Tabile