NTC, telcos told to solve text scams

CEBU CITY – The City Council has strongly urged the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and private telecommunications companies to address the undeterred text scams following numerous complaints from unsuspecting victims.

Councilor Pastor Alcover Jr. said they will hear NTC and telecommunications officials, along with the Anti-Cybercrime Group of the Philippine National Police and banking institutions, for an executive session to get inputs for the possible crafting of local measures as a way to help minimize, if not totally stop, text scams preying on unsuspecting subscribers. 

“Almost every week, I receive text messages that are suspicious or malicious, informing me about my bank account in a certain bank. The problem is, I don’t have an account in that bank,” Alcover told the Philippine News Agency. 

Alcover said he received complaints from city residents regarding scam messages. 

He said the City Council wants to hear inputs from the NTC since the national government is fully implementing Republic Act 11934, the SIM Registration Act that requires subscribers to register their SIM cards. 

“It’s almost a year since the implementation of the law requiring us to register our SIM cards and yet it did not stop text scams,” he said. 

Councilor Nestor Archival also said that officials from telecommunications could propose to the city certain measures to stop the scams using mobile phones. 

Scams are rampant in the country, not only through text but also Facebook to online shopping platforms such as Shopee and Lazada. 

Just recently, The Mindanao Examiner ran a news article regarding a special promo offer by a Facebook seller “Salmon Oil Softgel Capsule.” According to the report, a woman claimed to have been scammed by the seller after ordering online three bottles of Salmon fish oil branded as “Alaska” plus a bottle of Garlic oil for P699. But she received only one bottle of Salmon fish oil and a bottle of Garlic oil. 

The woman complained to the seller through Messenger and was told that the delivery man stole the two bottles. The delivery man denied the allegation and said what the seller sent was actually two bottles only.   

The poor victim told this newspaper that she was immediately blocked by the seller “Salmon Oil Softgel Capsule.” (John Rey Saavedra and Mindanao Examiner)