Frustrated consumers have been venting to friends and posting screenshots on Facebook about the unusually high number of spam text messages they've been receiving, particularly in the weeks leading up to the holiday season. The unsolicited, old-school SMS messages offer vouchers, discounts, and side hustles, often with links to supposed voucher downloads and WhatsApp chat groups. Reportr.world referred the matter to leading service providers Globe and Smart and here's what they had to say.
How to Deal With Spam Text Messages, According to Globe and Smart
Globe "takes spam seriously" and has a dedicated cybersecurity and data privacy group that takes care of spam complaints, Anton Bonifacio, Globe Chief Information Security Officer told reportr. Proven spammer numbers are blocked and deactivated—that includes 5,670 numbers and 71 million messages this year alone, Bonifacio said. Globe subscribers can report spammers via the telco's website where they have a page dedicated to stopping spam texts. He also noted that Android users can report spam using the Google Messages app.
PLDT First Vice President and head of communications Cathy Yang also responded to reportr's query and suggested four ways for subscribers to deal with spam:
- Do not entertain questions or surveys from unknown senders
- Never provide personal information to strangers
- Use your text messaging app's built-in blocking feature
- Report incidents to the National Telecommunications Commission via the complaints page on their website.
Globe's Bonifacio said the company partnered with banks, Lazada, and Shopee to help gather reports on numbers used for spamming. "Given the pandemic, a lot of businesses are trying to get their products across to consumers, that's why there's a lot of unsolicited marketing campaigns," he said.
"Unfortunately, digital marketers or unsolicited spammers have either built databases of numbers from public information, or data that can be freely accessed on the Internet from social media and sign-ups," he noted.
Hey, Spotters! Check us out on Viber to join our Community and subscribe to our Chatbot.