One of the biggest news stories last July was when President Bongbong Marcos announced during his SONA that all POGOs–short for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator–would be banned. Since the POGO Ban announcement, there are claims that text scams have been reduced–at least according to House Deputy Speaker David Suarez.

“Before I used to have four or five scam messages, but now I do not receive any message asking people to click on a particular link and receive this reward. Haven’t you noticed that?” Suarez told members of the media during a press briefing at Batasang Pambansa.

 

Are Suarez’s claims true? We checked our spam inbox, and there’s a bit of truth to that. While we still get these text scams, it has become less frequent since a POGO ban was imposed. It will probably take a while for this to be addressed, but at least we’re a step in the right direction.

 

Another piece of evidence that supports Suarez’s claims is that phones used for text blasting are being sold in online marketplaces. Regardless of the main purpose, the fact that these phones are being sold in bulk for cheap shows that the effort of telcos to block them is working.

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However, as much as spam texts appear to be less frequent, what’s still alarming is that scammers start to resort to other means. Some would call you and ask if you’re interested in online gambling, while others use different messaging platforms like Viber, WhatsApp, and even iMessage to send these scam texts.

 

This is alarming, as the messaging platforms we mention have end-to-end encryption–and scammers appear to have found ways to bypass it.

While there’s truth to Suarez’s statement, the government cannot be complacent. The government should also coordinate with these messaging platforms to help further eradicate text scams, as scammers are becoming smarter in finding ways to victimize people.

There’s also a need to revisit the SIM Registration Law, especially with the DICT admitting that text scams remain rampant despite implementing the law.