The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) here intensifies its information drive against text scams to curb and eliminate scammers and to protect people from falling prey into such deceitful schemes.
According to Engr. Ric dela Cruz of NTC-Pangasinan, his office gets an average of three to five complaints daily against text scams which are designed to extract sensitive personal information or gyp one financially
“Text scams come from 11-digit numbers. To avoid these, people should be aware that there are three common types of text scams – panalo sa raffle, kamag-anak or kaibigan pa-load, and the pasa or nakaw-load,” he said during the KBP Forum held at the PIA-Pangasinan office here on Thursday.
In the “Panalo sa Raffle,” the scammer will send a message to a cellphone user that he/she won in a raffle promo and then pushes the latter to call the sender who asks for processing fees before a supposed prize can be claimed.
“For this type of scam, the sender usually name drops popular persons and institutions and would even cite purported permit number from the Department of Trade and Industry to make it sound believable,” Dela Cruz said.
In the second type of scam, “Kamag-anak/Kaibigan Pa-load,” the sender declares being a relative abroad or someone in distress and in need of cellphone load or money.
“The sender informs the cellphone user that he/she met an accident and that he or she would need cellphone load or money. Sometimes, the sender would text the prospective victim saying it is his new roaming number,” he added.
Another scam, he said, is the “pasa or nakaw-load” wherein the sender asks the potential victim to reply by typing a certain set of numbers supposedly to settle a billing problem or avail of discounts.
“But this set of numbers turns out to be mechanisms to transfer load to the sender. It is better that we know the format of various telecommunications companies when passing or sharing a load,” Dela Cruz said.
As a precaution, he advised the public to ignore and never entertain such messages, saying “Huwag magpaloko, i-delete na lang at huwag sumunod sa instructions nila.”
“Report the mobile number to the NTC office to block it or send complaints on text scams to major telecoms by contacting Globe at 730100; Smart-8881111; and Sun-6398000,” he added.
Dela Cruz noted that the NTC has now required telecoms to send load confirmation prompt before sharing load is done, so one has the chance to think twice whether to reject or accept passing on load. (VHS/AMM/PIA-1, Pangasinan)