By Raymond Carl Dela Cruz
MANILA – Smart Communications has blocked almost two billion scam texts in the first 10 months of 2024, as part of its crackdown against fraudsters.
In a statement on Friday, Smart first vice president Patrick Santos said almost a million mobile numbers tied to scams and other fraudulent activities were blocked from January to October.
In October alone, Santos said the mobile service provider blocked 200 million malicious text messages and 46,000 mobile numbers.
“We urge our customers to be vigilant against text messages embedded with hyperlinks as these usually lead to phishing domains,” Santos said.
He noted that these scammers use fake cell towers to push messages directly to mobile users in a localized area to bypass legitimate telecommunications infrastructure, often appearing as legitimate messages from trusted sources.
“To help detect where these fake cell towers operate, Smart has added a location field in its “HuliScam” public anti-scam reporting portal to note areas where customers usually receive these messages,” he said.
The company is working with the National Telecommunications Commission and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center on the investigation, apprehension and prosecution of scammers.
He called on Smart customers who receive scam texts and other SMShing messages to send a report through the company’s anti-scam platform at https://smart.com.ph/huliscam.
“Aside from the location, the portal will also ask customers to provide the mobile number that sent the unsolicited message, the suspicious message, as well as the malicious link embedded in the text message,” he said.
In addition, Smart users may also report these incidents to the company’s verified and official social media pages: Smart Communications on Facebook and @SmartCares on X; or call hotline *888. (PNA)
