By Janine Dumaguin
The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) on Friday, March 17, said there was a “drastic reduction” of text scams following the implementation of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) registration law.
In the Laging Handa public briefing, DICT spokesperson Anna Mae Lamentillo said they are expecting to totally cut text scams after the end of the registration period.
“Meron pa kasing nalalabing araw, so ‘yung mga unregistered SIM active pa rin po ‘ yan ngayon,” Lamentillo said.
However, Lamentillo pointed out that scammers are currently doubling up their efforts as the registration nears.
“We feel that after the law is fully implemented, it [text spam] will be drastically reduced and drastically cut,” Lamentillo added.
Based on the latest tally provided, SIM registered has reached 45.8 million or at 27.12% of total subscribers. Out of the three leading public telecommunications, Smart Communications Inc. still has the highest registrants at 23.4 million.
It is followed by Globe Telecom with 18.9 million registrants and Dito Telecommunity with 3.4 million.
Meanwhile, extensions of the SIM registration period for another 120 days is still being deliberated.
The department urged the public anew to register their SIM cards ahead of the deadline to avoid its deactivation. -ag
