Text-message scams containing personal information of receivers have triggered probes in the Philippines, with initial findings showing that criminals may have bought data from different establishments.
(Bloomberg) — Text-message scams containing personal information of receivers have triggered probes in the Philippines, with initial findings showing that criminals may have bought data from different establishments.
“We believe that the recent smishing attacks are being perpetrated by local operators,” PLDT Inc. Chief Information Security Officer Angel Redoble said in a statement Tuesday.
An electronic wallet, a messaging platform and mobile loan applications may have been used to harvest names, according to PLDT, which said it teamed up with police and government investigators to track down who’s behind the scams.
Globe Telecom Inc. said in a separate statement that it has stringent measures in place to bar third-party breaches and guard against scammers. The nation’s privacy body said last week that it’s also investigating the unsolicited text messages.
Read: Philippines’ PLDT Blocks 23 Million Texts in Sign of Scam Threat
Digital payments have risen in the Philippines due to the pandemic, accounting for almost a third of retail transactions last year. The central bank aims to have at least half of the nation’s retail payments done digitally by end 2023.
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