By Raymond Carl Dela Cruz | Philippine News Agency
The Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) and Globe Telecom (Globe) warned the public Tuesday against a new SMS phishing campaign posing as Globe’s reward points program.
In a statement, CICC Executive Director Alexander Ramos said the SMS scam informs its target about expiring rewards points and urges them to redeem the points by clicking a provided link.
The website then provides a “Globe Menu” listing items that users can redeem with their points.
The website is designed to trick users into providing sensitive information in exchange for rewards.
The information the website collects includes shipping information as well as financial information by asking for payment to partially cover the cost of the reward.
“This new scheme is dangerous and alarming since perpetrators appear to have bypassed a National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) memorandum on blocking clickable URLs in SMS,” Ramos said.
The scam, he said, underscored the need for more collaborative efforts in combatting SMS-based phishing.
An initial CICC investigation found that the phishing campaign started on Nov. 27, 2024 and its IP address is located in Bucharest, Romania.
He called on the public to reach out to the Inter-Agency Response Center (IARC) toll-free hotline 1326 if they have fallen victim to such scams.
The hotline is available 24/7 from Mondays to Sundays, including holidays.