With DITO expanding its coverage in the Philippines–expecting close to 1 million subscribers by the end of June–the third telco is only offering a SIM card and a few data plans as of this writing. However, there are opportunistic resellers that are offering DITO WiFi modems that use Globe’s At Home WiFi modems. The recent surge of illegal DITO modems in online marketplaces alerted Globe, causing them to issue this advisory as a scam warning.

In its advisory, Globe explains that these illegal DITO modems are made possible by illegally unlocking the modem to make DITO SIM cards usable and concealing the Globe at Home logo with a DITO sticker. With this, resellers remove the preinstalled Globe SIM and replace it with a DITO SIM instead. A quick search of “DITO modem” on Facebook marketplace will reveal that several resellers are illegally selling these DITO modems that are originally Globe at Home modems.

“We are prepared to take the necessary legal action against these unscrupulous individuals and establishments carrying out these deceptive business practices,” Globe said in its advisory.

While making modems (and cellphones) openline is a practice done for years, reselling these modems as DITO units wherein they are actual Globe units is considered illegal and is classified as a deceptive business practice under DTI rules. On top of that, DITO has yet to announce which modems are compatible with its SIM cards, making this modus operandi a scam as it is not guaranteed to deliver proper coverage and the best possible speeds.

If you spot these posts online, make sure to report them at DTI’s Consumer Protection Group at [email protected] or 09178343330. In addition to that, you can report these posts on Globe At Home’s official FB page.

DITO has issued a statement on this matter, which you can read here.