Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan Uy on Tuesday warned the public that text scammers have “re-programmed” their approach to sending messages to capture personal information online.
Uy, in a press briefing in Malacañang, said scammers are sending fake links for SIM registration as bait for potential victims.
“Those text scams have increased again, but most of them now have redirected…or re-programmed their approach. They are cheating by asking people: ‘Have you registered your SIM card? If you haven’t yet, click this link,’ and you go to their site, which is a fake site,” he said.
Uy said scammers are able to capture subscribers’ data if they key in their information on the provided fake link.
“They also have exploited (the same modus) with respect to e-wallets – you will receive a text purportedly coming from your e-wallet provider: If you have already registered a SIM card, you have to re-register in the e-wallet in order to be able to activate it,’” he said.
“Do not fall for these scams,” Uy added.
He urged Filipino subscribers to register their SIM cards before the July 26 deadline to put an end to scammers defrauding people through text messages.
DICT records showed there are more than 95 million subscribers who have already registered their SIM cards as of May 10.