Globe Telecom Blocks Record-High Number of Fraud-Linked SIMs
In a statement released by Globe Telecom, a member of the Ayala Group, the company announced that it has blocked a record-high number of fraud-linked SIMs in the first nine months of the year through its Stop Spam reporting portal.
The company revealed that it observed “a staggering rise in the number of SIMs from other networks used in spam and scam activities.”
A total of 154,569 SIMs were blocked by Globe in the first nine months of the year, with 148,515 coming from other networks that were blacklisted, and 6,054 from its own network that were deactivated. This is a significant increase from the total of 35,558 blacklisted and deactivated SIMs within the same period last year.
Notably, blacklisted SIMs, which include numbers from other networks, saw a substantial increase this year with 148,515 as of end September, marking a 667.8 percent increase from the same period last year at 19,343. Meanwhile, the number of Globe SIMs deactivated over fraud links decreased by 62.66 percent, from 16,215 in the first nine months of 2022 to 6,054 in the same three quarters.
Globe’s Chief Information Security Officer, Anton Bonifacio, commented on the proactive efforts via the Stop Spam portal, stating, “With our proactive efforts via our Stop Spam portal bolstered by the SIM Registration Law, we were able to block a new record high in SIMs linked to fraud. Through collaboration and use of technology, we are gaining headway against these criminals.”
The company also emphasized its investment in state-of-the-art systems for detecting and blocking spam, with a $20 million investment in its Security Operations Center, which works round-the-clock to filter out unwanted messages. Globe encourages customers to continue to report suspicious messages from unknown senders to its #StopSPAM portal.
