Globe Telecom Inc. logged an all-time high in its monthly tally of blocked spam and scam messages in September, filtering out over 270.5 million messages after implementing its new measure against person-to-person messages with clickable links.
Figures peaked after a consistent uptrend over the last nine months, with the total reaching 1.3 billion by the end of September, exceeding last year’s full year total of 1.15 billion.
The monthly total of blocked SMS has also seen a 295.74 percent rise over 9 months, from 68.34 million in January to 270.5 million in September.
Globe expects its October 2022 figures will be in the millions again after starting its new measure against spam and scam messages only in the last week of September.

Under the new security measure, all person-to-person SMS with clickable links from all networks will be blocked.
Already, fraudsters are crafting their spam and scam SMS in new ways to circumvent the new measure.
“We have been blocking record numbers of spam and scam messages, most recently unleashing our stringent measure against SMS with clickable links,” says Globe Chief Information Security Officer Anton Bonifacio.
“This shows our efforts have been paying off as we prepare for the full implementation of the SIM Registration Act, which was envisioned to give government and industry players a leg up in the fight against fraudsters,” he elaborated.
The total figure from January to September also includes 49.3 million scam and spam messages related to banks and financial institutions.
For years, Globe has been investing CAPEX and man hours in the fight against spam and scam messages.
To date, it has spent $20 million or P1.1 billion to boost its capabilities in detecting and blocking scam and spam messages of international and domestic sources, including app-to-person and person-to-person SMS.
Globe also runs a 24/7 Security Operations Center manned by 100 personnel who detect and block unwanted and malicious messages.
Globe educates customers on how to be more proactive against smishing and other forms of online fraud.
Its Digital Thumbprint Program offers free e-modules on workshops where students, teachers and parents can learn how to be responsible digital citizens.
Earlier this year, Globe encouraged customers using Android devices to install spam filters on their phones via an instructional video shared on Facebook.
Globe continues to urge customers to report spam and scam messages they receive via the #StopSpam.