Globe Telecom said Friday it posted a significant drop in bank-related spam and scam text messages because of its rigorous anti-fraud measures and strategic collaborations with major financial institutions.
Globe said it blocked 2.74 million bank-related spam and scam messages from January to June 2024, marking a 43.56 percent year-on-year decline from the 4,855,199 messages blocked in the same period of 2023.
This underscores the effectiveness of Globe’s proactive strategies and robust partnerships with the country’s major banks and financial institutions.
The improvement follows Globe’s anti-fraud agreements with the Bankers Association of the Philippines (BAP), encompassing 45 major banks, and various individual players in the finance sector. These collaborations have enabled vigorous and timely data and intelligence-sharing, aligning efforts to prevent and investigate fraud more effectively.
“Our collective efforts with the banking sector have significantly strengthened our fight against spam and scam SMS targeting depositors. By working together and sharing critical intelligence, combined with our enhanced detection and blocking systems, we can now better protect our customers from illegal activities,” Globe chief information security officer and chief AI officer Anton Bonifacio said.
Globe allocated about $20 million to enhance its spam and scam SMS detection and blocking systems to prevent fraudulent messages from reaching consumers,
The company operates a 25/7 security operations center that filters out unwanted messages, including app-to-person and person-to-person SMS from international and domestic sources.
Amid this decline, Globe calls on mobile users to remain vigilant amid emerging scam schemes that evade cellular networks, including the use of chat apps and fake cell towers that are able to send messages without telco detection.
