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MANILA, Philippines — Many Filipino phone users have complained about receiving text scams that contain fake job offers, sham lucky winners, and other money-making schemes — sometimes even with the user’s name on them.
Despite the prevalence of these text scams, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said they only received about 800 complaints this year.
READ: NTC: Just 800 text scam complaints received in 2022
In a bid to address the apparent underreporting of text scams, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has urged the public to report them by doing the following steps:
Identify: A text scam message usually comes from an unknown mobile number that contains, among others, a job offer and/or promises of cash, pabuya, and discounts which may contain a clickable web link.
Ignore: Suspected scam messages should be ignored. Do not reply to the message and click the web link, if any.
Report: Take a screenshot of the text scam message with the mobile number of the sender and report it to the NTC through the following steps:
- Complaints may be submitted through e-mail at kontratextscam@ntc.gov.ph. The report should contain the user’s complete name, address, email, and contact number; the cell phone number of the scam texter; a screenshot of the text scam message with the sender’s mobile number; and a photo of any of the user’s government-issued IDs.
- Upload at the NTC’s website by doing the following: a. Click on the text scam complaints button found on the main page; b. Fill out the details in the Text Scam Complaints Form; and c. Click the SUBMIT button.
NTC may also be contacted for any additional queries or clarifications through the following Consumer Hotline numbers: +632 8920 4464, +632 8926 7722 and +632 8921 3251.
Calls made to the NTC Consumer Hotline numbers will be entertained from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday.
NTC also assures that the complainant’s personal data will be kept strictly confidential in accordance with the Data Privacy Act.
Block and delete: Once reported to the NTC, block the number and delete the text scam message at once.