Globe Telecom has launched a campaign to address continuing proliferation of unsolicited promotional materials sent through short messaging service or text messages, commonly known as text spams, which many subscribers find to be annoying and bothersome.
To help reduce, if not eliminate, text spams, the telecommunications provider has put in place several channels through which subscribers can report text spams, said Yoly Crisanto, Globe Head of Corporate Communications.
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Subscribers may report via the Globe website through Talk2Globe Chat (http://chat.globe.com.ph); send a message through Globe Contact Form (http://globe.com.ph/talk2Globenow) and by tweeting @Talk2GLOBE on Twitter. Subscribers can put in the number, the exact message, and the time and date the text spam was received. Numbers that are reported to be source of text spams are first sent warnings and those that are persistent source of text spams are deactivated from the service, Crisanto said.
While the company takes utmost care in safeguarding data, records and documents gathered in the process of conducting business, subscribers should also take caution in writing down any personal information including mobile phone numbers.
“Anyone who has access to numbers can create a database. Collection of numbers can come from registration to events and websites, prepaid loading from sari-sari stores, to text validation of mobile apps, and more. Major sources can be mobile marketing companies, app and web developers, load merchants, private and public establishments as well as through mobile generator programs,” she said.
Globe Telecom also disputes an online report that telcos sell customer numbers to database marketing companies. “Our valued subscribers can rest assured that we treat customer numbers with utmost confidentiality in line with the company’s security policy,” Crisanto emphasized. “We are aware and take note that spam text messages continue to cause inconvenience to many of our subscribers We want to assure our customers that we are committed in our drive against text spams,” she added.
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Many subscribers complain of getting an average of 5 to 10 text spams a day. Spam messages are usually sent by prepaid numbers as they are untraceable and are easily disposable. Spammers also don’t need to specific numbers to send spam messages to as they make use of USB GSM modems and they spam number ranges.
The National Telecommunications Commission had previously issued a memorandum circular prohibiting any unauthorized broadcast messaging services. The memorandum provides that any individual or business entity who wants to send broadcast messages needs to register first with the NTC for authorization. Legitimate text blasts approved by the regulating agency are properly identified and do not carry 11-digit numbers.
