Poe on rise in call scams

The dramatic increase in scam calls in the first quarter of the year is disturbing, given the SIM Registration law and the ban on POGOs.

Executed at a massive scale and with high precision, voice phishing or vishing attacks prey on our unsuspecting kababayans that result in identity theft and financial losses.

While not a silver bullet to the scamming menace, the law that we passed can go a long way in fighting cybercrimes.

It has institutionalized stricter measures on SIM use and legal basis for penalizing its misuse.

By this time, we hope wrongdoers are already feeling the mettle of the law and unsettling those hatching vile scamming plans.

Scammers should be tried in court and punished. If no one is held accountable, perpetrators will be emboldened to continue with their illegal activities.

We also call on relevant agencies, telcos and other concerned stakeholders to continuously come up with innovative solutions to tackle call and text scams.

Eliminating scams or at least paring them down to a minimum will require being smarter than the scammer.