THE National Privacy Commission (NPC) has summoned the data protection officers of telcos, banks and e-commerce sites to report on their spam prevention measures to combat the recent surge of scam texts that have been soliciting and misusing personal information.

In a press statement Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2021, NPC called the attention of data protection officers of Globe Telecom, Smart Communications, Dito Telecommunity, Lazada, Shopee and several banks.

“We have summoned them to detail their current and future measures to combat smishing. Ultimately, we want to secure their commitment and focus on fighting these fraudulent practices so we can best strategize how to block these messages and protect our data subjects,” said Privacy commissioner Raymund Liboro.

Smishing is a phishing cybersecurity attack carried out over mobile text messaging, also known as SMS phishing.

Investigations