Globe deactivates and blocklists more than 50,000 SIMs

Globe deactivates and blocklists more than 50,000 SIMs linked to fraud in 2022


Leading digital solutions platform Globe deactivated and blocklisted more than 50,000 SIMs last year as it continued to intensify consumer protection initiatives amid the rising online fraud cases.

Globe deactivated 20,225 SIMs and blocklisted 35,333 SIMs involved in scam and spam messages in 2022 alone as part of its campaign for internet safety.

This initiative was on top of the record 2.72 billion scam and spam messages it blocked last year, 83.4 million of which were bank-related. All these efforts have been ongoing to protect customers from harmful content and fraud before the enactment of the SIM Registration Act.

"Globe recognizes the growing threat posed by scammers, who use various tactics, including text messages, to deceive innocent victims into giving up personal information that scammers could use to compromise the victims financial accounts. We will continue to invest in our cybersecurity program to protect our customers from these unscrupulous individuals," said Anton Bonifacio, Globe's Chief Information Security Officer.

Under its filtering protocol, Globe deactivates SIMs within its network once detected to have been involved in fraud. Meanwhile, SIMs outside the Globe network are blocklisted to prevent them from sending to Globe.

On its own, Globe has taken a proactive approach to combat cybercrime schemes through various initiatives. For example, it has implemented blocking mechanisms, established partnerships with financial institutions for threat intelligence, created a customer reporting portal, and launched an awareness and education campaign to empower customers with the knowledge and tools they need to protect themselves.

Meanwhile, to address growing concern over using unregistered SIMs in committing cybercrimes, the government introduced Republic Act No. 11934, also known as the SIM (subscriber identity module) Registration Act. Signed into law in October, the measure requires all mobile and broadband users to register their SIMs with their respective service providers to ensure they are correctly identified.

As of January 25, Globe has logged 10.4 million registrations of prepaid SIMs.