The National Telecommunications Commission should make good its commitment to tighten regulations by proactively coordinating with law enforcement agencies to facilitate the filing of charges against subscribers using their SIMs for scamming activities and those spoofing registered SIMs. Unless those who allow their registered SIMs to be used for such nefarious activities are prosecuted, scamming by criminal syndicates, including those associated with POGOs will continue to proliferate. The NTC should also consider penalizing telecommunications operators who are remiss in their duties under the SIM Registration Law that helped enable illegal activities on their networks.

While the NTC has stated that “it is not a silver bullet against messaging scams”, the law clearly mandates the promotion of responsible SIM use and provides law enforcement with tools to address crimes involving SIM utilization. 

We appreciate the NTC’s efforts to coordinate with over-the-top (OTT) messaging apps like Messenger, Whatsapp, Viber, and the like to curb scam messages. However, the agency should prioritize addressing phishing messages sent through text which remain the primary platform for scamming activities.