10 gov’t agencies join efforts vs smishing
TEN government agencies, including the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Department of Justice, have joined efforts to bring to justice those behind smishing and text spams luring Filipinos into spurious investment schemes and non-existent work-from-home jobs.
Spearheaded by the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, the group includes the National Privacy Commission, Department of Information and Communications Technology, National Telecommunications Commission, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Trade and Industry, National Security Council, and Anti-Money Laundering Council.
Recently, the DOJ has warned the public against the spate of scam text messages offering fake jobs.
“Desperate to get a job during the holiday season? Be cautious before taking up an opportunity to work offered by unknown SMS senders,” the DOJ Office of Cybercrime said.
It noted: “fraudulent job posting will either ask the applicant to pay for application or training fees or promise high wages. It would also require the applicant to answer extensive personal information questionnaire that would then be used by the scammers to commit identity theft.”
” The holidays are a time for family and friends—but scammers will do everything to ruin celebrations. Avoid these unfortunate events from happening by being vigilant and conscientious with your online dealings. Do not click unverified links and do not give away personal information easily, ” the DOJ Office of the Cybercrime said.
Complaints mounted in the past few days about the thousands of text messages from random numbers offering nonexistent jobs to unsuspecting victims.
Referred to as smishing, it is classified as a cybersecurity attack carried out over mobile text messaging wherein victims are deceived into giving personal data that the perpetrators use to commit fraud, which usually is to steal money.
The National Privacy Commission (NPC) has summoned the data privacy officers of telecom companies to a meeting today to find ways to end the scam.
The NPC will also urge the telcos to adopt a US-style system of caller identity verification to protect consumers.
