How To Easily Report, Block Text Spam or Scam Messages

Unwanted texts can be blocked on the device and reported to authorities.

Filipinos have been complaining of increasing incidents of receiving text scams and spam messages on their smartphones – from supposed winning of contests to the more recent offers to be hired for jobs.

Following are ways on how you can easily report and block text spam or scam messages.

Globe network

Globe is encouraging customers to take advantage of tools available on their personal devices, such as built-in SMS spam filters or blockers, to fend off spam or scam messages from unknown senders.

Android phone users can set up spam filters on their Android devices. You can do this by following these simple steps:

1.            Download Google's "Messages" app

2.            Set it as your default Android SMS messenger

3.            Go to Settings and enable Spam Protection

Here’s a video so it will be easy to share with friends and family:

Globe blocks spam messages through a series of filters and threat intelligence systems which monitor traffic to find current campaigns and active spammers both on-net and inbound.

If spam messages still get through despite the filtering, customers may report these to Globe or directly to the National Telecommunications Commission.

Globe has provided a dedicated page to help subscribers stop spam in 3 easy steps. Check out the Stop Spam page at this link.

With the increased online activity brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, Globe continues to boost its customer protection and Internet safety initiatives. Globe has reportedly blocked over 140,000 smishing messages and blocked 203 sites in the first quarter of this year including 112 banks and 91 GCash phishing sites pretending to be from the legitimate pages of these organizations.

GCash helped facilitate the blocking of 900,000 fraudulent accounts with the help of NBI and the PNP joint effort. The company blocked a total of 1.15 billion scams and spam messages, around 7,000 mobile numbers linked to scammers, and 2,000 unofficial social media accounts and phishing sites in 2021.

“While our cybersecurity team continues to work on anti-spam and anti-scam initiatives on the network side, customers can also make use of tools on their own devices to help protect themselves,” said Anton Bonifacio, Globe Chief Information Security Officer.

Bonifacio also reminded the public to never open or click on links from unknown numbers nor engage these spammers by replying with personal information.

Globe’s anti-spam efforts are part of its goal to protect technological innovations, which are critical to economic growth and development. This is aligned with its commitment to infrastructure and innovation targets under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Smart network

Smart also requests its subscribers and retailers to report scammers’ numbers and scam messages by calling the *888 hotline using their mobile phone. Via landline, they may call Smart at 8881111. They may also report scam attempts to the Smart Communications Facebook page, and to @SMARTCares on Twitter.

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