Globe calls for official ID database to curb text scams
MANILA, Philippines – Amid the surge of text scams, Globe Telecom Inc. recognized the need for an official identification (ID) database to verify the identity of registrants and filter out fraudulent accounts.
Globe general counsel Froilan Castelo, in a statement on Monday, said an official ID database would help in improving the verification process.
While the telco giant has been implementing measures, Castelo said these were not enough to have full assurance in verifying the identity of the registrants.
READ: Telcos raise alarm vs scams
“Currently, Globe has been strictly implementing the provisions of the SIM Registration Act, including accepting only the required identification cards, investing in software to help in reading the text on identification cards and facial recognition to ensure these are real people,” he said.
“However, there is no way for us to determine with 100-percent certainty if the identity is fake without a database from which we can validate the identity,” he added.
SIM cards for sale
Globe said it had equipped its SIM registration platform with optical character recognition and data-matching capabilities, in addition to the mandatory selfie requirement.
“However, there are still criminals who are able to bypass this by using someone’s identity and then selling these registered SIM cards to scammers,” Castelo warned.
According to the SIM Registration Act, selling or buying preregistered SIM cards is illegal. Parties found guilty can be slapped with penalties of imprisonment of six months to six years and/or fines amounting from P100,000 to P300,000.
With this, Globe reminded its customers to only register under their own names, except for those SIM cards used by minor children who are under their care.
The telco giant also told the public to avoid buying SIM cards with tampered packaging, as this could mean that it had been previously used.
The SIM card registration was mandated as a way to curb the rise of text scams, which have become prevalent, especially during the pandemic.
According to an October 2024 report by the Global Anti-Scam Alliance, Filipinos lost $8.1 billion, or nearly P460 billion, in the past 12 months due to scams that were mostly launched via text messages.
On average, Filipino victims each lost $275—or about P16,000—because of scams.
About 67 percent of the victims realized on their own that they had been scammed, the study noted.
