Poe committee to tackle spread of spam, scam texts Thursday

The Senate public services committee led by Sen. Grace Poe will begin on Thursday, Sept. 8, its public hearing and inquiry into the alarming proliferation of spam and scam text messages, which now include the names of receivers.

During Monday's plenary session, Poe announced that she will be leading fresh discussions on the spread of text messages containing unsolicited messages, disinformation or those meant to defraud mobile phone subscribers.

The hearing, which was earlier set on Wednesday at 10 a.m., has been moved to Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, in a privilege speech, echoed Poe's earlier call to stop text scams that have become increasingly rampant and devious.

Poe shared the frustration of her fellow senators, baring that she, too, was targeted by scammers over the weekend.

She said a certain caller, identifying himself as a Philippine ambassador, asked her for monetary support for his family in the country.

The caller stopped when the senator, suspicious of the request, asked for a virtual meeting with him, accompanied by a Department of Foreign Affairs representative who would verify his identity.

Poe said she also foiled another attempt by a scammer who reached out to her and posed as an officer of the Senate.

"If we, senators, who have a complete staff work wherein every transaction goes through a vetting process, are affected by these, what more our ordinary countrymen? How would they be able to verify the messages sent to them?" she stressed.

The Poe-led committee will be tackling the bills seeking to require the registration of all subscriber identity module (SIM) cards, including her Senate Bill No. 99, which she re-filed last July.

In the 18th Congress, Poe sponsored the SIM Card Registration bill which was passed and ratified by both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, the bill was vetoed.

"Until we have that SIM card registration, this will keep occurring on a regular basis," Poe emphasized.