"The Philippines is a mobile-first country. Today, 64% of transactions here are conducted on mobile devices, and because of the high volume of transactions, the Philippines has become a major target for malicious actors," said John Gonzales, First Vice President and Head of Enterprise Consulting Services and Technology Management at PLDT Enterprise and President/CEO of PLDT Clarktel, at a panel during the inaugural Digital Nation Summit Manila organized by the GSMA, the organization representing mobile operators globally.
Gonzales, speaking at the panel "United against Scams: Technological Solutions and Partnerships" alongside representatives from the Government and the private sector, emphasized the importance of industry partnerships and leveraging technology to safeguard consumers and enterprises against mobile-aided fraud and other cybercrimes.
"PLDT and Smart fully understand the critical role of telcos in fighting fraudulent activities. We are very thankful for GSMA which has been driving anti-fraud measures globally by uniting telcos, app developers, enterprises, and other stakeholders to create mechanisms against fraud," Gonzales said. Among these efforts is GSMA's Open Gateway Initiative, which the PLDT Group joined earlier this year.
GSMA's Open Gateway initiative promotes a framework of common and standardized Application Programmable Interfaces (APIs), which will enable faster deployment of new services and safer and more secure digital experiences.
"PLDT and Smart have invested in innovation that will help counter cybercrime. By next year, we are eyeing the rollout of three key services: Silent authentication, which replaces traditional OTPs with a more secure method of logging into apps and addresses the rising threat of OTP interception by malicious actors; device location validation, which allows merchants to verify a user’s device location with the geographic location of a transaction to help fraud detection; and enhanced KYC (Know Your Customer) processes, to help ensure that transactions are legitimate and secure," he said.
On top of these tech solutions, Gonzales added that PLDT and Smart will also continue to collaborate closely with online communities and other industry stakeholders to reinforce the fight against cybercrime and stay ahead of malicious actors by looking across the ecosystem to identify and address emerging threats.
"Our role in continuously educating consumers and enterprises is also something we take seriously. Together, we must continue to build awareness of cybercrimes and ways to prevent them, putting in place a comprehensive defense against fraud and scams," he said.
In this regard, the PLDT group’s #BeCyberSmart and #MagingCyberSmart campaign continues to share practical information on schemes used by scammers to defraud the public. PLDT and Smart are also collaborating with government and industry stakeholders, as well as maximizing technologies already put in place, to solidify the Group's position at the forefront of the Philippines' fight against cybercrimes. In the first ten months of 2024, Smart has prevented almost two billion malicious text messages from reaching customers, as well as blacklisted almost a million numbers tied to scams and other fraudulent activities in the same period.
Smart has also continued to investigate the use of fake cell towers, or illegal devices that allow scammers to push messages directly to mobile users in a localized area, bypassing the telco network’s infrastructure and often appearing as legitimate messages from trusted sources. The PLDT Group is also working with the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) in efforts against SMShing, including the investigation, apprehension, and prosecution of scammers.
Smart customers who receive text scams and other SMShing messages are encouraged to report these incidents to Smart's anti-scam platform at https://smart.com.ph/huliscam.
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