Globe Telecom cracks down on deluge of spam messages

Globe Telecom said it was cracking down on spam messages given rising cases of unsolicited and scam texts.

In a statement on Monday, Globe said its dedicated cybersecurity team had deactivated 5,670 spam numbers and blocked nearly to 71 million messages this year alone.

“We take unsolicited and fraudulent messages seriously, and protecting Globe customers from these scams remains a top business priority,” Anton Bonifacio, Globe chief information security officer, said in a statement.

The dedicated team was part of Globe’s Cybersecurity and Data Privacy group, which responds to spam complaints and proactively deals with spammers and scams.

Globe terminates and blocks numbers of detected spammers through its systems, including those reported through www.globe.com.ph/stopspam.

Bonifacio said Globe had deployed $7.25 million, or nearly 2 percent of profits, in capital spending focused on “enhancing antispam capabilities in its network” since the pandemic began.

“Given the ongoing pandemic, many businesses are struggling to get their products across to consumers,” Bonifacio said.

“This has contributed to a surge in unsolicited marketing campaigns from digital marketers or spammers, who use existing number databases culled from public information or online data,” he added.

Globe said it also partnered with universal and commercial banks, apart from online shopping portals Lazada and Shopee, to cut scams and phishing activities.

This was to ensure the protection of customers within the network.

These partner companies report fake numbers, spoofed sender names and websites, which Globe in turn blocks in its network immediately, as they are reported, the statement showed.

Android subscribers can reduce spam messages by utilizing the “Messages” app text messaging service, Globe said. It noted the app has “highly-effective built-in spam filters similar to how a ‘Google Mail’ user may have built-in spam filters.” INQ