Secretary Ivan John Enrile Uy of the Department of Information and Communications Technology. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan Uy on Tuesday warned the public against the new approach of text scammers in an attempt to gather personal information online.
Uy said efforts of text scammers have ramped up following the extension of SIM card registration and even used this to hoodwink the public further.
“So, dumami na naman iyong mga text scams, and – but most of them now have redirected … or re-program their approach, panloloko nila asking people ‘nag register na ba kayo ng SIM card ninyo kung hindi pa click this link and you go to their site, which is a fake site,’” Uy said.
Uy said text scammers would be able to capture subscribers’ data if victims input their information in the provided fake link.
“They also have exploited that in respect to e-wallets, na for purportedly you will receive a text coming from e-wallet provider na ‘o kung nag-reregister na kayo ng SIM card kailangang mag re-register kayo sa e-wallet ninyo in order to be able to activate it,’” he added.
Uy said subscribers could fall prey to scammers once a SIM card is registered since there is no need for the user to have it registered for their e-wallet accounts or similar accounts.
“Do not fall for those scams,” he said.
He added the government is hoping that Filipino subscribers would immediately register their SIM cards under the SIM Card Registration Law to put an end to the avenue of defrauding people through text messages.
The DICT official stood firm that there will be no extension to the July 26 deadline for the SIM card registration.
DICT’s record showed there are more than five million subscribers who have already registered their SIM cards as of May 10, 2023.
Uy said they expect to hit their target in the next few months left before the deadline.
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