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Sen. Grace Poe on Thursday said the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) must intensify their efforts to stop widespread text scams, which are victimizing many mobile phone users with false promises of easy work and large earnings.
“The unabated surge of text scams has brought further hardship and distress on our people who are already mired in debts. This must stop,” Poe said in a statement indicating her frustration and disgust over the racket.
“We cannot allow these scammers and the syndicates behind these text schemes to prey on our countrymen who are already slumped by the effects of the pandemic and the skyrocketing cost of fuel and other basic goods,” she said.
Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public services, cited complaints from mobile subscribers, including herself, who had received unwanted text messages offering jobs, extra income, incentives and freebies from unknown senders.
“As more rely on digital technology to cope with the hard times, so must we intensify all necessary safeguards against heightened risks that can overturn our people’s efforts at recovery,” Poe said.
She said text scams persist with new gimmicks to lure and deceive mobile phone users.
A typical scam offers a job with unbelievably high compensation. One example: “Congratulations you can work online. No experience…
