Poe backs mandatory SIM card registration amid ‘personalized’ text scams

A picture taken on Februrary 27 ,2015 in Lille, northern France, shows cellphone sim cards. (Photo by PHILIPPE HUGUEN /Agence France-Presse)

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Grace Poe on Saturday stressed on the need to have a law requiring the registration of subscriber identity module (SIM) cards amid reports of scam text messages send specifically to mobile phone service subscribers.

Poe, who heads the committee on public services, said the committee will be conducting a public hearing on Wednesday, to look into the latest text scams and determine how the passage of a SIM card registration bill can stop the proliferation of “personalized” spam and scam text messages.

“They are getting more sophisticated, adaptive and personalized in their ways with their latest targeted scam messages already containing names of mobile users,” Poe said in a statement.

Aside from such schemes, Filipino users reported receiving spam text messages containing fake job offers, fake contest results, and other money-making schemes that aim to trick the unsuspecting text message receiver.

In a bid to prevent such schemes, Poe filed Senate Bill No. 99 or the “Subscriber Identity Module Card Registration Act” as the registration of SIM cards is not required in the country.

Poe said the bill “prohibits the disclosure of information obtained in the registration process, except upon a court order, written consent of the subscriber or in compliance with the Data Privacy Act.”

Former privacy commissioner Raymund Liboro purported that contractors of the three major telecommunication companies in the country are among the likely sources of the personal information that were used in the “personalized text scam messages.”

The National Privacy Commission said it is monitoring and investigating the reported “personalized” scam text messages. — Christian Paul Dela Cruz, INQUIRER.net trainee

RELATED STORIES:

Text scam that knows phone user’s name raises alarm

Poe, Zubiri refile bill on SIM card registration

/MUF