MANILA - Globe Telecom said on Monday it has deactivated 5,670 confirmed spam numbers, and successfully blocked close to 71 million spam messages this year as it beefs up efforts vs text spam and scams.

The telco said it terminates and blocks numbers of detected spammers through its systems, including those reported through www.globe.com.ph/stopspam.

“We take unsolicited and fraudulent messages seriously, and protecting Globe customers from these scams remains a top business priority,” said Anton Bonifacio, Globe chief information security officer.

Bonifacio said that because of the ongoing pandemic, many businesses are struggling to get their products across to consumers.

"This has contributed to a surge in unsolicited marketing campaigns from digital marketers or spammers, who use existing number databases culled from public information or online data,” added Bonifacio.

Globe said that since the pandemic started, the company has invested an additional $7.25 million in CAPEX solely to continue enhancing anti-spam capabilities in its network.

The Ayala-led telco said it has also partnered with major universal and commercial banks, as well as Lazada and Shopee, to minimize not just spam but also scams and phishing activities.

"These partner companies report fake numbers, spoofed sender names, and websites, which Globe in turn blocks in its network immediately, as they are reported," the company said.

Globe advised customers to use the "Messages" app by Google as their default Android SMS messenger as the app has highly-effective built-in spam filters similar to how a "Google Mail" user may have built-in spam filters.

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