Globe has upgraded its SIM registration platform to enable data verification in as fast as 24 hours, a key step to deter fraud.
This is in line with fresh guidelines from the National Telecommunications Commission, after tests showed how fraudulent IDs and details pass telcos’ SIM registration platforms. This bolsters the platform’s existing security features such as Optical Character Recognition, its data-matching capability that compares information between SIM users’ IDs and submitted forms, and the selfie requirement.
“With improved verification, Globe will be able to immediately weed out fraudulent submissions and avoid issues we had to confront in the first year of SIM Registration, including the use of fake IDs and fraudulent information. Our goal is to complete validation within 24 hours, and we’ll continue to fine-tune our solution as we test out this process,” Atty. Froilan Castelo, Globe Group General Counsel.
Globe has also started undertaking vigorous verification of all SIM registration data covering an estimated 61.4 million SIM users, with the review expected to be finished within 2024.
“In light of red flags that law enforcement authorities raised on the vulnerabilities of telcos’ SIM registration platforms, this stringent review aims to retroactively remove questionable submissions. With this step and our improved verification for all future submissions, our goal is to ensure the integrity of SIM registration data,” he said.
Globe also reiterated its call on the government to give telcos access to its official ID database to make SIM registration verification fool-proof. This step is critical in cross-referencing ID submissions as it would help telcos verify which IDs are real or fake.
“As we take our own steps to improve the SIM registration process, we continue to seek help from the government to boost our data verification capabilities. Access to government ID data is key in this process,” said Castelo.
Globe launched its SIM registration platform on December 27, 2022, two weeks after the release of the implementing rules and regulations of the SIM Registration Act, a crucial measure to deter online fraud and scams.
Since the start of SIM registration, Globe registered 53.7 million SIMs existing at the time of the registration period, and 7.7 million new SIMs since the deadline on July 30, 2023.
On top of its full compliance with the SIM Registration Act, Globe has long been undertaking stringent measures against fraud, including proactive SMS and SIM blocking, a 24-hour Security Operations Center, partnerships with banks and financial institutions, the #StopSpam reporting portal, and awareness campaigns to help customers protect themselves.
Through these efforts, Globe blocked 5.31 billion spam and scam SMS from January to end November 2023, and over 208,000 SIMs from the same period over fraud links, including 200,686 blacklisted SIMs from other networks , and 7,403 deactivated SIMs from within its own network.
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