Globe said Friday it blocked close to 1.1 billion scam and spam messages in the first quarter of 2023, a five-fold jump from 217.31 million recorded in the first quarter of 2022.
The company also said blacklisted SIMs from Globe’s Stop Spam portal soared to 22,455 from January to March 2023 compared to only 1,812 in the same period last year. Globe also deactivated 647 SIMs, of which 610 were involved in sending scam or fraud messages, while the remaining 37 were used in sending spam messages.
The portal allows customers to easily report mobile numbers responsible for spam/scam messages and calls. Subscribers just need to upload screenshots of the spam or scam messages and fill in the required details such as the senders’ number or caller ID, the recipient’s number and suspicious links received.
Globe blocked a record 2.72 billion scam and spam messages in 2022, more than double the 2021 level of 1.15 billion amid a strengthened campaign against fraudsters. It also deactivated 20,225 SIMs and blacklisted 35,333 SIMs.
“At our core, we remain committed to providing a secure digital experience for our customers. Aside from our various consumer protection initiatives, we are continuously investing in advanced spam detection and blocking systems to protect our subscribers from unwanted and unsolicited messages,” Globe chief information security officer Anton Bonifacio said.
Globe invested heavily in spam and spam SMS detection and blocking systems. The company has spent $20 million on its Security Operations Center, which works round-the-clock to filter out unwanted messages, including app-to-person and person-to-person SMS from international and domestic sources.
Globe started blocking SMS with clickable URLs in September 2022 in response to the growing concern over the escalating scam and spam messages, particularly those containing the mobile users’ full names.
To further prevent its subscribers from becoming victims of unscrupulous organizations and individuals, Globe encourages them to register their SIMs on or before the April 26 deadline mandated by the government under the SIM Registration Act.
